You’re probably using cloud computing right now, even if you don’t realize it. If you use an online service to send emails, edit documents, watch films or TV, listen to music, play games, or store pictures and other files, it’s likely that cloud computing is making it all possible behind the scenes.
Cloud computing stack
Most cloud computing services fall into four broad categories: On Premises, infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS) and software as a service (SaaS).
IaaS – Infrastructure as service
This is where pre-configured hardware is provided via a virtualised interface or hypervisor. There is no high level infrastructure software provided such as an operating system, this must be provided by the buyer embedded with their own virtual applications.
PaaS – Platform as service
PaaS goes a stage further and includes the operating environment included the operating system and application services. PaaS suits organisations that are committed to a given development environment for a given application but like the idea of someone else maintaining the deployment platform for them.
SaaS – Software as service
Saas offers fully functional applications on-demand to provide specific services such as email management, CRM, web conferencing and an increasingly wide range of other applications & services.
Type of Cloud deployment
Based on the security and management required, the clouds can be built in following three ways to suit the needs of the businesses:
Public cloud
Public clouds are owned and operated by a third-party cloud service provider, which delivers computing resources such as servers and storage over the Internet. Microsoft Azure is an example of a public cloud. With a public cloud, all hardware, software and other supporting infrastructure are owned and managed by the cloud provider. You access these services and manage your account using a web browser.
Private cloud
A private cloud refers to cloud computing resources used exclusively by a single business or organisation. A private cloud can be physically located on the company’s on-site data centre. Some companies also pay third-party service providers to host their private cloud. A private cloud is one in which the services and infrastructure are maintained on a private network.
Hybrid cloud
Hybrid clouds combine public and private clouds, bound together by technology that allows data and applications to be shared between them. By allowing data and applications to move between private and public clouds, hybrid cloud gives businesses greater flexibility and more deployment options.
Community Cloud
Type of cloud hosting in which the setup is mutually shared between many organisations that belong to a particular community, i.e. banks and trading firms. It is a multi-tenant setup that is shared among several organisations that belong to a specific group which has similar computing apprehensions. The community members generally share similar privacy, performance and security concerns.
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