Computers In The Clouds
by Jason Astuto
In the most basic of terminology, cloud computing means reading, writing and editing data and running software over the Internet instead of directly from a computer's hard drive. The cloud is just a modern marketing term for the Internet. It goes back to the days of flowcharts and Universal Markup Language presentations that would represent the server infrastructure of the Internet as cartoon like clouds.
Cloud computing is the most recent iteration of distributed computing, whereby the total processor time in a server farm is marshaled into use, and disk drives are arranged in redundant, load balanced, multiple site, network connected facilities.
What cloud computing is not about is your hard drive. The cloud is also not about having a dedicated hardware server in residence. Storing data on a devices in your home or centralized office network does not count as the cloud. Working from a local dedicated hard drive is how the computing industry functioned for many years. As server technologies have matured, and new ways to utilize the ever more powerful computers available have emerged, centralized dedicated hard drives and processors, have become a less efficient way to solve modern business problems.
Serving a simple brochure website from an off-site web is a form of cloud computing, and probably the most familiar. There is however, an altogether more interesting "cloud" when it comes to business. Some businesses choose to implement Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), where the business subscribes to an application it accesses over the Internet. (Microsoft’s Office.com.) Additionally, there is Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), where a business can create in house, or via third party, its own software applications for use by all in the company. And for the larger scale business, Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), where players like Amazon, or Google, provide a robust computing, storage, and communications network that can be leased by a business, such as Netflix.