What is Cloud Computing?

Cloud computing, which is the new buzz these days, and has also figured in Gartner's annual listing of technologies to watch for, is seeing a lot of hype of late. I don't exactly recall when I began using the term myself - but, it was probably when the topic started popping up in a number of blogs and forums and seminars and conversations.

I'll admit, I haven't researched the subject enough, to put a finger on when (or what exactly led to) the birth of this concept took place (you know, like how "Web 2.0" is attributed to Tim O'Reilly's talk at a conference). However, as with most technologies - and keeping in view Gartner's Hype Cycle paradigm - these things tend to seemingly happen right before one's own eyes, before you know it.

For example, Google's Gmail which began offering 'unlimited' storage. Or, to counter this, most of the popular email service providers bumped up their account quotas pretty much simultaneously. Or, Jonathan Schwartz's dream of 'The Network is the Computer' (2006). Looking back, I think this could not have been possible, without, what we now recognize as forms of cloud computing. Sure, now there are other examples.

Put very simply, Cloud Computing:

• Is a style of computing (much like how SOA is a style of architecture)
• Inherently offers dynamic scalability (as in 'on-demand')
• Is offered as a service (over the Internet, that is)

Based on these fundamental characteristics, cloud computing typically comprises three distinct 'types' or 'models':

• Infrastructure (or Hardware) as a Service (Iaas or HaaS)
• Platform as a Service (PaaS), and
  
• Software as a Service (SaaS)

I'll elaborate on each of these areas further in subsequent posts, but the key concept behind this seemingly powerful concept - which is beginning to see the light of day - is that it based on the fact, that computing power like your regular electric power, is as good as a utility. That is, both hardware and software can be thought of as 'utility', that are consumed when you need them. And, hence, the concept of on-demand or pay-as-you-use services.

Cloud Computing is here to stay - and Web 2.0 is closely associated to it - and while the current global economic downturn may have slowed things down a bit, it offers the promise of reducing IT expenditure (capex) for agile businesses.