The Concept of Cloud Computing

What is Cloud Computing?

Cloud computing means storing and accessing data and programs directly from the internet instead of your computer's hard drive. The cloud is just a metaphor for the Internet.

What cloud computing is not about is your hard drive. When you store data on, or run programs from the hard drive, that's called local storage and computing. Everything you need is physically stored on your hard drive, which means accessing your data is fast and easy.


The cloud is also not about having a dedicated hardware server in residence. Storing data on a home or office network does not count as utilizing the cloud. For it to be considered "cloud computing," you need to access your data or your programs over the Internet, or at the very least, have that data synchronized with other information over the Net. In a big business, you may know all there is to know about what's on the other side of the connection; as an individual user, you may never have any idea what kind of massive data-processing is happening on the other end. The end result is the same: with an online connection, cloud computing can be done anywhere, anytime.

Cloud for Business

There is an entirely different "cloud" when it comes to business. Some businesses choose to implement

•  Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), where the business subscribes to an application it accesses over the Internet. 
• Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), where a business can create its own custom applications for use by all in the company.  
• Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), where service providers like Amazon, Google, and Rackspace provide a backbone that can be "rented out" by other companies.

Common Cloud Examples

The lines between local computing and cloud computing sometimes get very, very blurry. That's because the cloud is part of almost everything on our computers these days. You can easily have a local piece of software (for instance, Microsoft Office 365, one of the versions of Office 2013) that utilizes a form of cloud computing for storage (Microsoft Skydrive).

Microsoft also offers a set of Web apps that are close versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote that you can access via your Web browser without installing anything.
Some other major examples of cloud computing people around the world are probably using:

Google Drive

 This is a pure cloud computing service, with all the apps and storage found online. Drive is also available on more than just desktop computers; you can use it on tablets like the iPad or on smartphones. In fact, all of Google's services could be considered cloud computing: Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Reader, Google Voice, and so on. 

Apple iCloud

 Apple's cloud service is primarily used for online storage and synchronization of your mail, contacts, calendar, media and more. All the data you need is available to you on your iOS, Mac OS, or Windows device.

Amazon Cloud Drive

 Storage at the big retailer is mainly for music, preferably MP3s that you purchase from Amazon.

Hybrid services

Hybrid services like Box, Dropbox, and SugarSync all work in the cloud because they store a synched version of your files online, but most also sync those files with local storage. Synchronization to allow all your devices to access the same data is an advantage of the cloud computing experience, even if you do access the file locally. Likewise, it's considered cloud computing if you have a community of people with separate devices that need the same data synched, be it for work collaboration projects or just to keep the family in sync.