Cloud Computing 101: A Useful Guide to Cloud Computing

Hey Readers,

I think you got the news by now that 5G has launched in India, which can be considered a breakthrough in the Indian Tech market. I felt that the tech industry was changing faster than anything now. I still remember those days when I needed to wait 3 minutes to upload the file, and now it can be done in less than 3 seconds.

The 5G technology will help thousands of internet users to share photos and files more quickly and efficiently. The cloud has solved our storage problem, and the 5G will solve the problem of sharing that stored data.

Now, if you are a person who knows the term “cloud” but is not sure about what it is or how it is used, then you have come to the right place. I will explain the basics of cloud technology here in a less than 4-minute reading.

Cloud is the short form for the term “cloud computing.” Though the cloud can be considered the features of web 2.0, its use and effect have largely shaped Web 3.0 as well. Cloud service freed the computing process from the limitation of the hardware.

What is Cloud Computing? 

Cloud computing is the delivery of the computing service using the internet service.

In cloud computing, cloud means the internet. Cloud services include different spectrums of computing, including host-based servers, storage, software, analytics, and networking.

Cloud service makes computing scalable, like utility services. With cloud computing, a business doesn’t need to set up its computer infrastructure; rather, it can pay per its use of the services like it does for its electricity.

 

Types of Cloud Computing

Cloud technology has three major parts based on their service specification.

• Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): The virtualization of the infrastructure is the basis of IaaS. The IaaS uses the internet to provide virtual services to manage networking, storage, and servers. The virtual servers and cloud storage has freed businesses from the hardware limitation of the infrastructure setup.
  Examples: AWS, Microsoft Azure, IBM Cloud
• Platform as a Service (PaaS): This is the next step of the cloud service that virtualizes more than IaaS, including operating systems, applications development platforms, and middleware. The PaaS makes software and application development easier by making it cost and resource-effective.
   Examples: AWS Lambda, Azure CDN, IBM Red Hat OpenShift
• Software as a Service (SaaS): Software as a service is the third type of cloud service that more intensely virtualizes the process. It provides the applications in a virtualized form where no installation is needed for the applications. Users don’t need to take care of the hardware and software setup or update for running the applications.
  Examples: Microsoft Office 365, Salesforce CRM, Dropbox
  
  

How Businesses Utilize Cloud Computing

Cloud computing makes technical integration easier for businesses as installation of a separate setup for its technical unit is not needed in this service. It not only saves their costs but also cuts down their responsibilities on developing technical platforms or software. In the computing aspect, cloud service gives a better option to the business organization than outsourcing. Businesses can control the data and processes without allotting a huge resource.

The advantages of adopting cloud computing are:

• Cost Effectiveness: The use of cloud computing is scalable, like electricity and internet service. It means that the resource used in cloud computing can easily be increased or decreased based on the need.
• Scalability: Cloud computing is a resource-effective service where the organization needs not invest in large setup costs or huge human resource costs.
  
  
• Flexibility: The flexibility of using the cloud computing service based on the need and demand makes it best for businesses as they need not focus on the technical details of the services.
  
  
• Mobility: It removes the space boundary of using the software and/or platform by making it mobile. Cloud computing made the work flawless in the time of the lockdown as the workforce could access the needed technologies from their homes through the network.
  
  
• Collaborative: The cloud-based storage and computing helps in collaborative work by allowing the users to access the same resource at the same time. Cloud computing is one of the most contributing technologies behind the development of groupware.
  
  

Cloud Computing and Data Security

Business organizations use their confidential data, like operational, strategic, and customer data, in the cloud environment. For this reason, data security is essential to the cloud platform.

Why Data Security is Essential to the cloud computing

For many business organizations, cloud hosting companies store business data in a shared place. The shared place for data storage makes it vulnerable to data threats. A strong and effective data security application is needed for a cloud-enabled business platform. Otherwise, the vital data of the business organizations may be stolen, manipulated, or destroyed. This is one of the most prominent vulnerabilities of the cloud hosting service.

How can Data security be applied in cloud computing?

The basic aim of cloud computing data security is to secure the data from unauthorized access. The following are some of the common data-security practices in the cloud-based environment:

• Encrypting Data:
• A major practice of cloud data security is to encrypting data to a ciphertext so that only the users with the decryption key can decrypt and access the data.
• Multifactor Authentication: Multifactor authentication adds two or more layers to the authentication process, making the infiltration more challenging for hackers.
• Securing the network: Increasing network safety makes unauthorized access to the data harder by manipulating the network vulnerability. For this, network security is one of the important steps for the data security implementation of cloud computing.

Cloud computing is one of the most useful technologies of the current digital era. When rolled down carefully with needed data protection guidelines, it makes it possible for the business to enjoy technological advancement without notably investing in it.

Check my next blog to learn about 5 ways by which cloud computing is changing the business world.