cloud computing

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What Is The Cloud?
21st century, not the fluffy stuff

Cloud Computing is term used where your everyday things - resources, software & applications - is stored either on the web or over a secure server.
Cloud services are on-demand, generally bought on a pay-per-usage system resulting in no need for licences for software to be renewed every so often.

Many advantages come from everything being stored on the Cloud;
The ease of access anywhere with an internet connection to your information and applications with the data stored remotely & updated instantly for others with access.
No need for licences or software purchases every so often as Cloud services are on-demand, generally bought on a pay-as-you-use system.
Office closures become a thing of the past with users being able to continue to work via your Cloud whilst you are moving offices, snowed in or simply permanently work remotely.

Cloud is provided in three main sectors Infrastructure-as-a-Service, Platform-as-a-Service and Software-as-a-Service.
IaaS is a model which an organization outsources their equipment including storage, hardware, servers and networking components. The service provider owns the equipment and is responsible for running and maintaining it in return the client uses the pay-per-usage basis.
PaaS is a way to rent storage, hardware & network capacity over the Internet. This allows the customer to rent virtual servers and associated services for running their existing applications or developing/testing new ones.
Finally, the most common services SaaS is a distribution model in which applications are hosted by a vendor/service provider and made available to customers over a network or the Internet.

The Cloud's three main sectors can be brought to you in Public or Private form;
The Public Cloud is a service in which applications & storage is available to the general public over the Internet, these services may be free or offered on a pay-per-usage system. Public Cloud is simple & in-expensive to set up due to hardware & application costs are covered by the provider. Scalability to march your needs results in no wasted resources and the less you use the less you pay.
The Private Cloud (also known as internal or corporate Cloud) is a service which is usually built for you & only useable by you. Private Clouds are usually stored on your secure network or stored online via a provider or on your own hosted services.