Cloud computing
Cloud computing is a technology that allows users to access shared computing resources and services over the internet from anywhere, using any compatible device. This paradigm shift moved away from traditional software installations on local machines, making applications, data, and services easily accessible via the web. Key characteristics of cloud computing include internet accessibility, resource configurability, multitenancy, and self-service features. Major players like Amazon, through its Amazon Web Services (AWS), helped popularize this model by offering infrastructure as a service (IaaS), while software as a service (SaaS) has made tools like email and media streaming available online.
The adoption of cloud computing has grown significantly since its emergence in the early twenty-first century, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, which highlighted its flexibility for remote work. However, challenges remain, including concerns about data ownership, security, and potential disruptions from internet outages. The landscape continues to evolve, with notable competitors like Microsoft Azure innovating within the market. Overall, cloud computing has transformed how both individuals and organizations interact with technology, setting new expectations for accessibility and convenience in data management and application use.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Cloud computing
- DEFINITION: The ability to access shared content and computing resources from anywhere via the internet
Cloud computing enables computing resources to be accessed from anywhere and on any compatible device. The practice became increasingly popular in the early twenty-first century due to widespread internet access and the proliferation of mobile devices such as smartphones.
Cloud computing represents a shift away from the need to install software applications on local machines. At its most basic level, cloud computing uses the internet to share computing resources—such as memory, storage, and processing power—and provide access to applications, data, and services from anywhere, on any device. The defining characteristics of cloud computing are: internet accessibility, resource configurability, multitenancy (one software instance serving many users), broad authentication, subscription options, self-service features, and accessibility from anywhere.
Internet retailer Amazon helped popularize the use of cloud-based infrastructure as a service (IaaS). After realizing that its data centers had significant unused capacity, the company developed a system to distribute the processing power of its servers, allowing for usage-based scaling. In 2004, Amazon released a version of this system—called Amazon Web Services, or AWS—to the public, making it possible for anyone to establish a cloud network. By June 2007, Amazon reported that 330,000 users had signed up for AWS. IaaS enables companies to create clouds of their own, while platform as a service (PaaS) offerings like the Google App Engine (GAE, released 2008) simplify the process of deploying cloud applications.
The most common conception of cloud computing is software as a service (SaaS), which refers to the cloud applications that end users access. SaaS includes web-based email services such as Microsoft’s Hotmail (released in 1996) and Google’s Gmail (2004); distributed customer relationship management (CRM) systems such as NetSuite (1998) and Salesforce (1999); web-based content development and sharing applications such as Google Apps (2004); and media streaming services such as Hulu, Pandora, and Netflix. Another popular use for the cloud is as a data backup service, enabled by SaaS applications such as Dropbox (2007) and Microsoft OneDrive (launched in 2007 as Skydrive and renamed in 2014).
Although many cloud applications quickly achieved notable consumer popularity, gaining millions of users, businesses were somewhat slower to adopt cloud models. Only 2 percent of companies used PaaS in 2009, for example. However, another survey found that 57 percent of companies were planning to make strategic cloud investments in 2009, demonstrating interest if not active usage. Adoption increased steadily in the 2010s, with SaaS and IaaS leading the way but PaaS also finding uses. Commentators increasingly differentiated between the public cloud, which includes any cloud services provided over the public internet; the private cloud, in which cloud services are provided purely for a single entity or organization; and hybrid cloud models.
By the mid-2010s, companies such as Microsoft and International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) had created prominent corporate cloud computing services that were vying for customers, especially as more and more businesses began to sign on as users. Amazon remained a leader in the field, announcing at a conference in 2015 that it had accrued over one million active users and approximately eight hundred software vendors for AWS, which was then reportedly worth more than $7 billion. This competition helped the popularity of cloud computing further increase as providers sought to improve the affordability, accessibility, and flexibility of their services. Other notable developments and products included Microsoft's Office 365, an SaaS version of its popular Office software line launched in 2017 (and renamed Microsoft 365 in 2020). The increase in remote work due to the COVID-19 pandemic beginning in 2020 helped increase the popularity of cloud computing even further, as cloud services provided many employees with the flexibility to access resources from home or any other location. Into the 2020s, Microsoft's cloud-based service Azure remained AWS's biggest competitor. By that point, cloud platforms had also increasingly begun experimenting with the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in cloud computing, with experts acknowledging benefits, flaws, and challenges.
Despite its uses and popularity, experts have expressed some notable concerns about cloud computing adoption. One criticism is the lack of control over the infrastructure, particularly in terms of data ownership and internet security. Security and internet privacy issues attracted considerable media attention, especially in light of several high-profile hacks and other breaches, and government regulation of cloud services became a significant issue of debate. Another concern regards the openness and interoperability of cloud services developed by various corporations. Additionally, business operations heavily dependent on cloud computing services can be severely disrupted by internet or power outages, server maintenance, bugs, or other problems.
Impact
Cloud computing made accessing data and services from any device faster, easier, and better synchronized, improving personal and professional computing for millions of people and allowing the rapid launch of new companies and products in the twenty-first century. As a result, the ability to access personal information and services from anywhere has become an expectation for many internet users.
Bibliography
Benioff, Marc, and Carlye Adler. Behind the Cloud: The Untold Story of How Salesforce.com Went from Idea to Billion-Dollar Company—and Revolutionized an Industry. Wiley, 2009.
Bort, Julie. "Amazon Has Over a Million Customers for Its Cloud Computing Service." Business Insider, 29 Jan. 2015, www.businessinsider.com/amazon-over-a-million-cloud-customers-2015-1. Accessed 22 Feb. 2017.
Koulopoulos, Thomas M. Cloud Surfing: A New Way to Think About Risk, Innovation, Scale and Success. Bibliomotion, 2012.
Nielsen, Lars. The Little Book of Cloud Computing. New Street Communications, 2012.
Ranger, Steve. "What Is Cloud Computing? Everything You Need to Know About the Cloud Explained." ZDNet, 25 Feb. 2022, www.zdnet.com/article/what-is-cloud-computing-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-cloud/. Accessed 5 Aug. 2024.
Ruparelia, Nayan. Cloud Computing. MIT P, 2016.
Sayegh, Emil. "How Cloud Computing Revolutionized Business Operations and What Lies Ahead." Forbes, 28 Nov. 2023, www.forbes.com/sites/emilsayegh/2023/11/28/how-cloud-computing-revolutionized-business-operations-and-what-lies-ahead/?sh=d49821b4fb1d. Accessed 23 May 2024.
Watters, Ashley. "What Is AI Cloud Computing?" CompTIA, 15 Apr. 2024, www.comptia.org/blog/what-is-ai-cloud-computing. Accessed 5 Aug. 2024.