Cloud Computing is a term that is often misunderstood and confused by both novice and experienced computer owners and users. Cloud computing is essentially the internet based use of applications and resources in real time.
The most effective way to describe cloud computing is to think of an application that you might use through Google Apps. You use the application via your web browser (it doesn’t matter which browser you use) but the application itself is stored on Google’s Servers, so you never have to download the actual application on to your own PC or Mac. This saves the user valuable hard drive space and has the potential to dramatically improve PC or Mac performance.
The aim of cloud computing is to, in a sense, relieve the PC or Mac owner / operator from having to be burdened by the expensive and exhaustive task of maintaining and managing their software applications which can prove to be a drain on finances and equipment speed.
Cloud computing in that manner is actually quite a simple concept, although it is often confused with other similar terms, including grid computing and utility computing. They are described as follows: ¨ Grid computing involves a cluster of loosely linked machines – where applications are distributed across a group of linked machines meaning that the user may not necessarily have an application they are using loaded on to their machine, but they may in fact be accessing it from another machine, ¨ Utility computing packages computer applications and farms them out to other PCs or Macs like an electricity provider would farm out power on a grid of homes.
It is important to note that cloud computing may or may not hold some or all of the characteristics of grid computing and utility computing, which is why the three terms are so frequently confused.
Cloud computing takes its name from the image that it portrays in network diagrams of being able to hover above and conceal complex architecture that the user does not need to know about or interact with. Cloud computing does this but still achieves the same functionality as if the application or device was loaded on to, or attached to their system directly.
Cloud computing taps into high end server infrastructure that is hosted and supported typically by the application’s developer. This is important, because for many of these cloud computing type applications, the demand is great and therefore, the back end needs to be durable and stable in order to cope with the user demand.
In addition to the first example we gave you of Google Apps, cloud computing functionality can also extend to applications that run across peer to peer networks. Applications that do this include BitTorrent and Skype. Open source software is also part of this cloud computing family and this kind of application is a key driver in this concept, becoming almost ubiquitous across the world. |
|