Cloud Computing is now the perfect method of providing enterprise software — and the chosen choice for firms to develop their networks or introduce new technologies. In simple terms, Cloud computing is simply taking resources and moving them beyond an organization’s firewall and delivering them over the internet via the application, storage, and other services. These services are divided into four main groups;

• Infrastructure as a service (IaaS)
• Functions as a service (FaaS)
• Platform as a service (PaaS)
• Software as a service (SaaS)

There may be a private, public, or hybrid cloud network. A public cloud offers resources over the Web to everyone. A private cloud is a network or data center that provides host services to a limited percentage of individuals, with specific settings for access and permissions.

A hybrid cloud is a mix of a private and a public cloud with a degree of overlap in both. The aim of cloud computing, whether private or public, is to provide fast and easy access to IT resources and services.

For the proper implementation of a cloud computing service model, cloud infrastructure requires the hardware and software units to work in sync. Also, cloud computing can be seen as utility computing or on-demand computing.

The name “cloud computing” was derived from the symbol of the cloud, which has always been used in flowcharts and diagrams to represent the World Wide Web.

Common Cloud Services Definitions

The spectrum of cloud computing services available is immense. Cloud services are usually configured based on the requirement and specifications of the end-user (business), but most fall into one of the following categories;

• Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

IaaS is popular with businesses that enjoy the flexibility of getting their IT infrastructure handled by the cloud vendor. IaaS providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, IBM, and Google Cloud Platform provide instance and storage of a virtual server and APIs that allow users to move workloads to a virtual machine (VM).

IaaS public cloud providers offer a pay-per-use scheme for storage and computing resources at a single level. Amazon Web Services (AWS) remained the largest IaaS Company, followed by Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, and IBM Cloud.

• Functions as a Service (FaaS)

FaaS is a cloud hosting database framework that allows developers to write on-the-fly modular pieces of code that could be run with any event. This makes code scale fast and is a cost-effective way of introducing cloud-based services.

All the major cloud services provide FaaS as an addition to IaaS. Examples are; Google Cloud Functions, IBM OpenWhisk, AWS Lambda, and Azure Functions. A special advantage to FaaS systems is that no IaaS resources are used before an incident happens, thereby eliminating pay-per-use costs.

• Platform as a Service (PaaS)

PaaS offers collections of resources and workflows directly for developers, who can use common tools, protocols, and APIs to accelerate application development, testing, and delivery. Cloud providers in the PaaS model host development software on their infrastructures.

Users use APIs, online websites, or proxy applications to access such resources via the internet. PaaS should ensure that developers have ready access to resources for businesses, obey certain protocols, and only use a particular variety of services, while operators manage the fundamental infrastructure.

• Software as a Service (SaaS)

SaaS is a form of distribution of software that offers remote access to the software and functions as a Web-based service. Cloud providers in the SaaS model host development software on their infrastructures. Users use APIs, web portals, or gateway applications to access such resources over the internet.

You can find the most common SaaS business applications in Google’s G Suite and Microsoft’s Office 365. Salesforce’s Lightning Network, AWS Elastic Beanstalk, and Google App Engine are popular SaaS providers.

When Did Cloud Computing Start?

References to the term “cloud computing” started as early as 1996, with the first recorded reference in an internal Compaq storage. As soon as 1977, the cloud symbol was used to describe computer equipment networks in the original ARPANET, and by 1981 the CSNET (both ancestors to the internet itself).

The idea of sharing access to computing resources has reemerged time and time again — in the late 1990s and early 2000s through cloud service providers, utility computing, and grid computing. Cloud computing later progressed with the invention of software and other computational utilities such as Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Who Originated The Term “Cloud Computing”?

The Oxford English Dictionary also doesn’t include “cloud computing” yet. But it is used as a technical term is spreading rapidly in the world. It reflects a historical change in the IT sector as more computer memory, computing capacity, and applications are stored in remote data centers or the “cloud.”

“The cloud is an analogy for the internet. It’s a Web rebranding,” says Reuven Cohen, co-founder of Cloud Camp, a programmer course. “That is why the argument is raging. It’s open to multiple interpretations because it’s an analogy. Part of the argument is over who will get credit for creating the word. Yet others agree that, in its current sense, the first use of “cloud computing” occurred on 9 August 2006, when Google CEO Eric Schmidt introduced the concept in an industry conference.

Why Did Cloud Computing Come Into Existence?

Cloud computing services allow businesses to escape the upfront expense and difficulty of establishing and managing their own IT technology and paying for what they need. Companies can rent access to anything from software to cloud service provider servers, rather than having their computing resources or data centers. Cloud computing service providers, in turn, can stand to gain from increased competition by providing the same services to a wide array of clients.

What Was In Existence Before Cloud Computing Came Into Usage?

Service-oriented architecture (SOA) was being used before the idea of cloud computing started. Although the cloud includes deployment and domain generalization options, SOA is related to the underlying foundation, which makes it possible.

System Administrators also used to speak about servers as a whole entity that includes hardware, operating system, storage, and software. Their feature, i.e., the Exchange server, the SQL server, the File server, etc., also refer to servers.

In a situation in which something goes wrong, when a computer encounters a hardware failure, and there are several servers, then the network is down. Server administrators always deploy server clusters to make them more resistant to faults.

Also, groups, however, have limitations on their optimization, and not all software operate in a homogenous domain. This created server maintenance issues, and thereby the Virtual Server concept was originated.

The idea of virtual servers distinguishes the application software from the hardware. It includes for that server the Operating System, the programs, and the data. Any or more hosts can support a virtual server, and one host can contain a series of virtual servers.

Hosts can be removed and added to accommodate the maintenance at any time. The computer servers can be quickly extended out. If the administrators consider that too much is being taxed on the resources supporting a virtual server, they may change the number of resources dedicated to that virtual server.

Who Was The First Cloud Service Provider And What Services Did They Provide?

In the 1960s, Joseph Carl Robnett Licklider is claimed to have invented cloud computing with his role on ARPANET to link people and information from anywhere at any time.

In 1983, CompuServe provided a limited storage space to its customers that could be used to store whatever files they wanted to publish.

In 1994, AT&T unveiled PersonaLink Services, an electronic networking and entrepreneurship platform for personal and business usage.

In 2005, Box unveiled an online file transfer and private cloud management service for main entrepreneurs.

In 2006, Amazon Web Services (AWS) launched cloud storage services accessible to anyone in any part of the world.

In conclusion, A core aspect of innovation about cloud computing is that the area in which the network is located is not important to the clients and a lot of specifics such as the hardware or operating system in which it is being used.

It is with this in perspective that the cloud concept was adopted from old network telecoms schemes, in which the common telephone network (and now the internet) was mostly described as a cloud.

It is, of course, obvious that the position of facilities and data remains a major concern for many consumers. According to IDC estimates, developing the infrastructure to sustain cloud computing accounts for more than 33.3 percent of all IT spending worldwide.

In other situations, money invested in conventional, in-house IT set-up continues to diminish as computational workloads begin to move into the internet, whether operators sell public cloud services or business-built private clouds themselves.