About Cloud Computing

Cloud Computing has propelled every sector with its qualities such as flexibility, scalability, topnotch performance, dynamism, remote capabilities, SLA's, ease of integration, faster migration, etc. 

Annual spending on cloud infrastructure has gone to almost $100 billion (2019) as revealed in Synergy Research Group's detailed review of enterprise IT spending over the last ten years.

Forrester Research: The global public cloud infrastructure market will grow 35% to $120 billion in 2021, as the cloud continues to “take center stage” in the recovery from the pandemic.

Organizations embrace the Cloud Computing

Organizations worldwide have shifted their IT infrastructure, services, and strategies from traditional to Cloud. Hence the cloud computing is growing exponentially over the years. Using the virtualization platform the users can scale services horizontal and vertical.
Scale hardware configuration with non-zero time.

Services Offered

• Compute Services: Virtual Machines, Web Applications
• Storage Services: tables, files, queues, and databases platform
• Networking: Virtual Networks, Express Route
• Infrastructure
• Firewall
• Analytics
• Machine Learning Services: Power BI and Cognitive services

Cloud Computing Models

Public Cloud

• Services owned and operated by a third-party service provider such as Microsoft, AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud, Oracle, IBM & Alibaba Cloud
• Suitable for less confidential data
• Pay-as-you-go model: user charge only for resources consumed
• Multi-Tenant implementation
• It supports connectivity over the Internet
• Less control over infrastructure
• High Scalability

Private Cloud or Corporate Cloud

• Provides dedicated infrastructure to a single organization
• It supports connectivity over the fiber, private network, and the Internet
• High Security: suitable for secure confidential data such as financial, personal data
• High Cost compared to Public cloud: The ownership, implementation, and maintenance responsibility is with the provider organization
• Single-Tenant implementation
• Greater flexibility and control over infrastructure
• Highly reliable
• Limited scalability

Hybrid Computing

• combination of both public and private cloud computing models
• Greater flexibility
• Manageable Security: Helps to maintain tighter control over sensitive data & processes. The sensitive data can be kept on an on-premise cloud with added security and compliance requirements. In contrast, less sensitive data can be stored on the public cloud.

Different types of Cloud Computing Services

Based on the cloud provider's management responsibilities and users.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

• Provision infrastructure services such as virtual machine with the storage and network components
• Full scalability: A user can scale up and down based on the business requirements.
• Pay-only-for-what-you-use
• High availability
• The provider does up-gradation and troubleshoots the hardware issues. The user or customer is responsible for configuring and maintaining the availability and functionality of the operating system and all applications installed on the infrastructure.

Software as a Service (SaaS)

• delivers a single application through the browser to a plethora of customers utilizing a multi-tenant architecture.
• Deliver complete cloud-based software applications such as Office365. The centrally hosted applications are managed and maintained by the provider and also responsible for underlying infrastructure provisioning and management.
• One version serves all customers.

Platform as a service (PaaS)

It is a variation of SaaS where the platform as a service provided for applications to run.

• All resources for complete software application development life-cycle: provides a complete environment for developing, testing, deploying, and managing software for web and mobile applications.
• No hassle for buying the required software and licenses: The customer need not worry about buying, setting up, managing, or maintaining the underlying infrastructure.
• Pay only for the used resources
• It enables system integrators, developers, IT consultants, and software houses can entirely focus on the realization of applications as setup and configuration phases. Thus, it manages with extreme simplicity.
• It's ideal for applications that serve variable loads.
• Enables scalability, high availability, separation of services, and ease of management.
• As per Gartner's prediction global PasS market have the second-highest growth rate in the cloud service industry, growing @ 21.8%.
• Serverless Compute: Allow users to build applications quickly focussing on business logic. No time waste in infrastructure setup. The cloud service provider is responsible for provisioning, managing, and maintaining the infrastructure needed to run the deployed code. The scaling is performed automatically and driven by the workload or when a specific event is fired.

MSP  (Managed service provider) is an application that manages IT and its applications rather than being useful directly to the end-users e.g. virus scanning and anti-spam services. DaaS (Desktop As a Service) Virtual Desktop is provided, that connects to applications and data which are stored on the cloud provider's server.  

Azure SQL Database

• According to DB-Engines, it is named among the top three databases of 2020.

Gartner Assessment

• Evaluates and categorize IT industry firms by their vision and ability to execute.
• Categories or Quadrants: Niche Players, Challengers, Visionaries, and Leaders

Gartner estimated that by 2020, $216 billion would be spent on the cloud shift.