Cloud Computing

Cloud computing refers to both the applications delivered as services over the internet and the hardware and systems software in the data centers that provide those services. Cloud computing services have long been referred to as Software as a Service (SaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS). From a hardware stand point and pricing point of view, three aspects are new in cloud computing. 1) The appearance of infinite computing resources available on demand, quickly enough to eliminate the need for cloud computing users to plan ahead for provisioning. 2) The elimination of an up-front commitment by cloud users which allows companies to start small and increase in storage resources only when there is a need. 3) The ability to pay for use of computing resources on a short-term basis as needed and release them when needed. This allows for rewarding conservation by letting machines and storage go when they are no longer useful.

The construction and operation of extremely large-scale, commodity-computer data centers at low-cost locations was the key component of cloud computing. Other necessities that need to decrease in cost are electricity, network bandwidth, operations, software and hardware available at these very large economies of scale. There are 10 obstacles and opportunities for cloud computing to grow. These consist of: availability/business continuity (use multiple cloud providers), data lock-in ( standardize APIs), data confidentiality and auditability (deploy encryption, VLANsm firewalls), data transfer bottlenecks (FedExing disks, higher BW switches), performance unpredictability (improved VM support, flash memory, gang schedule VMs), scalable storage (invent scalable store), bugs in large distributed systems (invent debugger that relies on distributed VMs), scaling quickly (invent auto-scalar that relies on ML, snapshots for conservation), reputation fate sharing ( offer reputation-guarding services like those for email), software licensing (pay for use licenses). Cloud computing will continue to grow tremendously, so developers should take it into account of what techniques can be discovered and worked upon.

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