Introduction: Overview & Objective

In this introductory page we are going to answer some of the basic principles of cloud computing asking questions like what it does, how it works, why it was invented, and what is it useful for. This way you will have the idea of cloud computing down before you just into some other pages.

What is cloud computing? What does it do?

Cloud computing is an internet-based computing mechanism used to share data storage and applications over an external, remote server. Let us simply it for all of those who are not tech gurus:

Typically, your local server or personal computer stores, manages, and processes data. Cloud computing is the outsourcing of the storage, management, and processing of data, usually the to internet. With the advancement of modern technology you are probably using cloud computing without even knowing it! For example, if you use Apple’s “iCloud”. See our page “Applications of Cloud Computing” for more information on common uses.

How does cloud computing work?

For cloud computing, everything is stored on a network and managed by a cloud computing provider. The provider company can access the cloud via a user interface and the user pays for the amount of space desired. For example, iPhone users may have gotten a notification “iCloud storage is full. Click here to upgrade”. That is because your photos and other information on your phone or laptop is being added to your personal iCloud account, managed by Apple. After a certain number of gigabytes the space you own will be full, like how space on a phone can be full, and you must pay for more storage.

Why was cloud computing invented? What is it useful for?

Cloud computing simplifies data storage for companies and makes the stored data more accessible. As the tech industry in booming with new devices with new applications and features, data management has to keep up. With cloud computing companies do not have to constantly buy and update hardware and software, which is especially tedious, time consuming, and costly for large companies. The other major bonus of cloud computing is the flexibility it brings. Now multiple people can access and work on a document at the same time from multiple devices and locations.

RightScale, a cloud computing provider, conducted a survey in January of 2017 to collect information on the current trends in cloud computing. These are some of the key statistics produced from the data that was collected:

Users of the cloud use multiple clouds to support their applications, as supported by the data stating that on average they run 1.8 public and 2.3 private clouds.
The cloud supports a majority of a company’s workload, as the data states that cloud users run 41% of their workload in a public cloud and 38% in a private cloud.
Users believe the cloud is more secure as the concern about its security fell from 29% (last year) to 25% this year.
The most common challenge that cloud users face is managing costs (24%) and the most important initiative for users is optimizing cloud costs (53%).

These trends leave no doubt that cloud computing is changing business as we know it, and was designed to do just that.