Cloud Computing

 

Cloud computing is a buzz word these days.  Its used as metaphor for internet. If you have a high traffic website / web based application and you don’t want to spend too much into hosting high end dedicated servers – cloud computing / cloud hosting is what you are looking for. Cloud computing relates to the way we design, build, deploy and run applications that operate in an a virtualized environment, sharing resources and boasting the ability to dynamically grow, shrink and self-heal. You can look at cloud as a virtual server that provides single-point access to a distributed (often across the globe) collection of hardware/software. It generally incorporates combination of the following.

1. IaaS: Infrastructure as a Service. A good example is Amazon EC2, where you basically get a virtual machine (Amazon Machine Image) on which you install what you want.  IBM Blue house, VMWare, Amazon EC2, Microsoft Azure Platform, Sun Parascale and more are examples of this service. Here they mainly deal with physical assets as services. Apart from Amazon EC2 there are other reliable and efficient providers such as GoGrid and Rackspace.
2. PaaS: Platform as a Service. This adds infrastructure software to IaaS so you don't start from scratch. Examples are Google App Engine (GAE) and Salesforce Force.com. They are resources on demand. Developers create applications on the provider’s platform over the Internet. PaaS providers may use APIs, website portals or gateway software installed on the customer’s computer Force.com, (an outgrowth of Salesforce.com) and GoogleApps are examples of PaaS. This mainly deals with Middleware, Intergation, Messaging, Information, connectivity etc. AWS, IBM Virtual images, Boomi, CastIron, Google Appengine are examples of this kind of service.
3. SaaS: Software as a Service. Here, you get the full package that you tweak/customize to your needs. SaaS is a vast market. Services can be anything from Web-based email to inventory control and database processing. Because the service provider hosts both the application and the data, the end user is free to use the service from anywhere. Best example of course is Salesforce.com. Gmail, GoogleCalender,Payroll, HR, CRM, Sugarm CRM, IBM Lotus Live etc are such examples of services on demand.

 

Clouds have many benefits, most importantly:

1. You don't need to plan/invest in hardware/software upfront
2. You don’t need to worry about heavy traffic and high bandwidth requirements.
3. Your infrastructure will scale as your business/needs grow. Just pay as you grow.
4. You system will be fault-tolerant and secure
5. You don't need to maintain/manage the setup. Very low maintenance.