Infraserve

What is Cloud Computing?

Cloud Computing is about having secure access to your applications and data from any networked device.

What is meant by cloud computing?

Many people are confused as to exactly what is cloud computing, especially as the term can be used to mean almost anything. Roughly, it describes highly scalable computing resources provided as an external service via the internet on a pay-as-you-go basis. The cloud is simply a metaphor for the internet, based on the symbol (a Cloud) used to represent the worldwide network in computer network diagrams.

Economically, the main appeal of cloud computing is that customers only use what they need, and only pay for what they actually use. Resources are available to be accessed from the cloud at any time, and from any location via the internet. T here's no need to worry about how things are being maintained behind the scenes - you simply purchase the IT service you require as you would any other utility. Because of this, cloud computing has also been called utility computing, or 'IT on demand'.

This new, web-based generation of computing utilises remote servers housed in highly secure data centers for data storage and management, so organisations no longer need to purchase and look after their IT systems in-house.

What does it comprise of?

Cloud computing can be visualised as a pyramid consisting of three sections:

Software as as Service - Cloud Application

This is the apex of the cloud pyramid, where applications are run via a web browser, hosted desktop or remote client. A hallmark of commercial cloud computing applications is that users never need to purchase expensive software licenses themselves. Instead, the cost is incorporated into the subscription fee. A cloud application eliminates the need to install and run the application on the customer's own computer, thus removing the burden of software maintenance, ongoing operation and support.

Platform as a Service - Cloud Platform

The middle layer of the cloud pyramid, which provides a computing platform known as Platform as a Service. A cloud computing platform dynamically provisions, configures, reconfigures and de-provisions virtual machines, operating systems and development tools, as needed, to cope with increases or decreases in demand. This in reality is a distributed computing model, where many services pull together to deliver an application.

Infrastructure as a Service - Cloud Infrastructure

The foundation of the cloud pyramid infrastructure used to deliver the cloud and application platforms as required. This is housed in a secure data centre location that is geared to provide ample power, cooling and data connectivity that can scale up rapidly as demand for cloud computing grows. The infrastructure includes servers, networks and other hardware appliances. These are then interlinked with others for resilience additional capacity and disaster recovery.