What is Cloud Computing and Segments of Cloud Computing?

By: Animate

What is cloud computing?

Cloud computing is Internet-based computing, whereby shared resources, software, and information are provided to computers and other devices on demand, like the electricity grid. In other words, Cloud computing refers to anything that involves delivering hosted services over the internet and encompasses any subscription-based or pay-by-use service that, in real time, extends IT's existing capabilities.

In general, cloud computing customer avoids capital expenditure of the company thereby also reducing the cost of purchasing physical infrastructure by renting the usage from a third party Provider. The companies devour the resources and pay for what they use. Many cloud-computing offerings use the utility computing model, which is similar to traditional used services like electricity are consumed, while others bill on a subscription basis. So sharing "unpreserved and intangible" computing power among multiple customers can improve operational rates. A side-effect of this approach is that the overall computer usage has risen severely because the customers do not have to engineer for peak load limits.

The most common example of cloud computing is yahoo mail or Gmail. You just need an internet connection to send emails through them. There is no need of server or any software to use them they are simply available on internet.  The major benefit of cloud computing is it has reduced the cost or capital expenditure of the companies. The company needs to pay for what it has used and upgrades are also done automatically.

Segments of Cloud Computing

Cloud computing has three main segments which are as follows:

• Applications
• Platform
• Infrastructure

Each segment serves different products for businesses and individuals with different purpose. Get cloud computing ppt slides to make attractive powerpoint presentation on cloud computing.

Applications – It is based on, o demand software services. On demand software services come in different varieties. They vary in their pricing scheme and how the software is delivered to the end users. In the past, the end-user would purchase a server that can be accessed by the end user over the internet.  Salesforce.com (CRM), Google (GOOG) and NetSuite (N) are some of the companies which provide on demand software or SaaS business.

Platform - The platform segment of cloud computing refers to products that are used to deploy internet. Net Suite, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft have also developed platforms that allow users to access applications from centralized servers. Google, Net Suite, Rackspace cloud, amazon.com and salesforce are some of the active platforms.

Infrastructure - The third segment in cloud computing, known as the infrastructure, is the backbone of the entire concept. Infrastructure vendors' environments such as Google gears allow users to build applications. Cloud storage, such as Amazon's S3, is also considered to be part of the infrastructure segment.

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