What is cloud computing?

In simple terms, cloud computing consists in keeping files, applications, and other data over the Internet. The correct word is on the cloud.  

Keeping computing services like servers, storage, databases, networking, software, analytics, and intelligence on the cloud, facilitates access from any device.

Instead of the computer hard drive, the services storage goes to external servers. 

On the contrary, the traditional storage model, a company needed to invest in powerful servers that store everything. 

That model has high costs because it needs software licenses and physical space for the servers. 

It also needs computers that might be subject to loss and damage, putting the business data at risk. 

On the other hand, the cloud eliminates expensive infrastructures and keeps the data safe. 

Therefore, if the machines are damaged, your information is safely stored remotely.

Advantages of using cloud computing

Cloud computing offers several benefits. 

Therefore, using hardware and software services from a provider on the Internet gives you the flexibility of connecting to your business anywhere, any time. 

So, let us go over some of the main advantages of cloud computing.

Reduced IT costs

As we have mentioned in this article, using a cloud service provider may reduce the costs of managing and maintaining IT systems. 

A contract with a cloud computing service may also reduce operating costs. It can include system upgrades, new hardware, and software.

Scalability

Using the cloud, you can scale up or down the operation and storage of your business needs. 

Consequently, cloud computing gives you the ability to scale elastically. 

Depending on the business needs, you can use more or less computing power, storage, or bandwidth.

Performance and speed

Cloud providers have several data centers distributed around the globe. It assures the best internet connectivity and protocols for each of its services. 

Only by constantly improving and upgrading these services can cloud providers keep up with their competitors.

Let us take AWS as an example. 

Besides having several data centers, AWS also invested in creating a private network to improve the connection between their data centers. 

This feature makes AWS connections faster than regular public connections.

Cloud providers invest immensely in this issue and have big teams always looking to improve performance. 

So it inherently becomes a huge deciding factor for any client when opting to create or migrate their services to the cloud.

Security

When it comes to security, there are a lot of advantages to using cloud providers. 

The most important is that cloud providers have teams regularly doing health checkups to prevent common attacks to any service present in the cloud. 

They also have regular software updates that reinforce security. 

There are also security features inside the accounts and the services themselves. 

Usually, with on-premises services, there is the need to implement a complex Access Control List system with different users, permissions, and accesses. 

But, on the cloud, most of these features are already implemented and are free. 

Types of cloud computing

There are three types of cloud: Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service. 

Each of these services provides different levels of control, flexibility, and management.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

IaaS is the most basic category and gives you a high level of flexibility and management control over your IT resources. 

With IaaS, you rent IT infrastructure - servers and virtual machines (VMs), storage, networks, operating systems - from a cloud provider on a pay-as-you-go basis.

Platform as a Service (PaaS)

With PaaS, there is no need for you to manage the underlying infrastructure. 

This service allows you to focus on the deployment and management of your applications. 

The goal of PaaS is to facilitate developers' work when creating web or mobile apps. 

They can be more efficient without worrying about setting up or managing the underlying infrastructure of servers, storage, network, and databases needed for development.

Software as a service (SaaS)

SaaS provides you with a complete product that is run and managed by the service provider. It delivers software applications over the Internet and on-demand. With SaaS, you don’t have to think about how the service is maintained. Neither how the underlying infrastructure is managed.

Best cloud computing services

As stated, cloud storage is the perfect option to store data, ensuring the most updated services and security.

Although there is no physical space, you have easy access to your data at any time and device.

Let us select some of the best cloud computing services:

• Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the most popular service provider. AWS is a cloud-based platform that offers solutions using integrated web services. AWS offers an extensive range of IaaS and PaaS services, including Elastic Cloud Compute (EC2), Elastic Beanstalk, Simple Storage Service (S3), and Relational Database Service (RDS);
• Azure Microsoft: launched by Microsoft in February 2010, is one of the best cloud services platforms. Allows users to build, run, and manage applications across multiple clouds, on-premises, and at the edge, with the tools and frameworks of your choice.
• Google Cloud Platform: Google Cloud is very flexible and is very useful, especially if you’re a newbie. Enables users to create business solutions using Google-provided, modular web services. It offers a wide array of services including IaaS and PaaS solutions. 

Choosing the right option for your project can be complicated. With Zalox, you will always find the most appropriate solution. Contact us and find out what your application needs to grow!