Cloud Computing – A Step Towards Digital Transformation

What is Cloud Computing?

Cloud Computing is becoming crowd-pleasing in today’s IT world among people and businesses who deliver different services using the online network. Cloud computing has changed the scenario of doing business by working digitally. It has increased the efficiency and the productivity of work, but among all these, the security of data is the most crucial reason why people are turning towards Cloud computing. 

How does it work?

The working of cloud computing is not difficult. The information is stored remotely on the cloud-based storage that means the data of any person or the business is in a remote database instead of their local hard disk or drive. One can access the data stored on the remote database until the device he/she uses has to access the internet and has the appropriate software to run to access the data on the remote database.

Cloud Computing Deployment Models

The local drives’ data is stored in the highly secured computer clusters situated remotely in Cloud Computing. There are three types of deployment model used in Cloud computing which entirely depends on the user’s requirements. The first one is Public cloud services, the second Private cloud services, and the third one Hybrid cloud services that are a combination of both Public and Private cloud services.

• Public cloud services: A third party provides public cloud service. These third parties take care of all the hardware, software, and other things. It is not considered safe for sensitive data to be stored remotely using Public cloud services, as everyone has access to it.
• Private cloud services: As the name itself depicts the term, it provides services to a specific class of high-end security people. It needs information technology experts to access data through the private cloud. 
• Hybrid cloud services: Hybrid cloud services consists of both Public and Private Cloud services. It is very flexible and cost-effective. Sometimes communication is interrupted as it has features of both Public and Private cloud services. 

What are the types of Cloud Computing?

Cloud computing is a combination of the three services: Software as a service (SaaS), Infrastructure as a service (IaaS), and Platform as a service (PaaS).

• Software-as-a-service (SaaS): This service is for businesses who want to use software and subscribe to the software and pay for the same. It works from a central location, so the user needs not to worry about it. 
• Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS):  IaaS is a basic model because it offers a basic structure of remote servers, operating systems, storage devices, and networks. IaaS is best for small and medium-sized organizations who want to use cloud computing in their business. 
• Platform-as-a-service (PaaS): It is the service where both the Infrastructure and Software services are used. But a person or business can use their application and run that. It is favourable for the organization where a large number of persons are working on the same project.

What are the various types of Cloud Computing platforms?

Around the globe, many businesses are using cloud computing, and they use the platforms given by some of the renowned companies of the IT Industry. Cloud computing and cloud platforms offer businesses to effectively store the remote database data and secure it to access the inputs remotely from any place. Some companies provide cloud computing platforms and effectively manage the needs of individuals or businesses. 

• Amazon Web Services: As we all know, Amazon is a leading eCommerce company. It provides the cloud computing platform named Amazon Web Services (AWS) that is an on-demand cloud computing platform and gives facilities for data storage remotely, Data Analysis, etc. Amazon is the most powerful cloud computing platform as compared to others. 
• Google Cloud Platform: Google cloud platform is a public computing solution called GCP. It has various tools and software for cloud management, data security, and development purposes. It provides services like computing, remote storage of data, networking, and many more. Google uses Platform as a service (PaaS) and allows users with on-demand software development.
• Microsoft Azure: Microsoft Azure is formerly known as Windows Azure. Microsoft has launched this cloud computing platform. This cloud computing platform uses SQL Azure to put the code on Microsoft’s servers and database. Microsoft Azure is a complete cloud computing platform that offers full support for the development, management, and security of the data and its applications.
• Digital Ocean: It is an America based cloud computing platform with almost half a million developers. Digital Ocean cloud computing platform uses SSD (Solid State Drive) to create a user-friendly platform to do coding conveniently and efficiently. Digital Ocean cloud computing platform is less costly as compared to other cloud computing platforms.
• IBM Bluemix: International Business Machine (IBM) owns the IBM Bluemix cloud computing platform. It is a blend of both Platform as a service (PooS) and Infrastructure (IaaS) service. IBM Bluemix is an open-source cloud computing platform that is easily accessible by the public.
• Alibaba: Alibaba cloud computing platform, launched by a Chinese eCommerce Company, is the same as that of Amazon. Alibaba cloud computing platform works on private cloud computing services. It covers all the services like hosting, RDBMS (SQL), No SQL databases, Artificial Intelligence, and many more.

What are the pros of Cloud Computing?

• One can have access to the remote database easily and securely from anywhere.
• With cloud computing, users can check their email, store data on Google drive and dropbox.
• Cloud computing helps in the data back of end-user files. It can store files, photos, videos, etc.
• The introduction of Cloud computing in the IT world reduced setting individual servers, which the big organizations used to do to store their sensitive data.

What are the cons of Cloud Computing?

• Security is always a big issue to worry about. The Cloud is used to store highly-sensitive data to protect it from hackers. 
• If the Encryption key is lost, then the encrypted data will automatically be lost.
• As some of the Cloud computing platforms use public cloud services, be aware of these as this will lead to the stealing of your very vital information that can be your bank details.

Final Words

Enterprises can opt for either public or private Cloud computing for their extensive applications. It has become the platform of choice for many businesses. Choosing the right public cloud provider offers enterprises an alternative to building their in-house infrastructure. With cloud computing, anybody can enjoy scalable computing power.