Evolution of Cloud Computing

Cloud Computing provides the facility to a wide range of services stored in the cloud or Internet. The Services provided by cloud computing are computer resources, data storage, applications, servers, developmental tools, and networking protocols. It is most popularly used by IT firms and for business requirements. The term “Cloud Computing” was proposed in the year 1950s that gives internet-related services and it emerged from distributed computing to the current technology called cloud computing. Amazon, Google, and Microsoft are some examples of cloud services.

Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is the services provided on the Internet to store a vast amount of data in one place and can be used from anywhere and from any place. This minimizes the cost of the physical installation of the data centers and servers.

Some examples of cloud computing are −

• Dropbox − It is a one-stop solution for all the services like file storage, sharing, and managing the system.

• Microsoft Azure − It provides a wide range of services like the backup of data and any sudden recovery from any type of disaster.

Evolution of Cloud Computing

Cloud Computing has evolved from the Distributed system to the current technology. Cloud computing has been used by all types of businesses, of different sizes and fields.

1. Distributed Systems

In the networks, different systems are connected. When they target to send the message from different independent systems which are physically located in various places but are connected through the network. Some examples of distributed systems are Ethernet which is a LAN technology, Telecommunication network, and parallel processing. The Basic functions of the distributed systems are −

• Resource Sharing − The Resources like data, hardware, and software can be shared between them.

• Open-to-all − The software is designed and can be shared.

• Fault Detection − The error or failure in the system is detected and can be corrected.

Apart from the functions, the main disadvantage is that all the plan has to be in the same location and this disadvantage is overcome by the following systems −

• Mainframe Computing

• Cluster Computing

• Grid Computing

2. Mainframe Computing

It was developed in the year 1951 and provides powerful features. Mainframe Computing is still in existence due to its ability to deal with a large amount of data. For a company that needs to access and share a vast amount of data then this computing is preferred. Among the four types of computers, mainframe computer performs very fast and lengthy computations easily.

The type of services handled by them is bulk processing of data and exchanging large-sized hardware. Apart from the performance, mainframe computing is very expensive.

3. Cluster Computing

In Cluster Computing, the computers are connected to make it a single computing. The tasks in Cluster computing are performed concurrently by each computer also known as the nodes which are connected to the network. So the activities performed by any single node are known to all the nodes of the computing which may increase the performance, transparency, and processing speed.

To eliminate the cost, cluster computing has come into existence. We can also resize the cluster computing by removing or adding the nodes.

4. Grid Computing

It was introduced in the year 1990. As the computing structure includes different computers or nodes, in this case, the different nodes are placed in different geographical places but are connected to the same network using the internet.

The other computing methods seen so far, it has homogeneous nodes that are located in the same place. But in this grid computing, the nodes are placed in different organizations. It minimized the problems of cluster computing but the distance between the nodes raised a new problem.

5. Web 2.0

This computing lets the users generate their content and collaborate with other people or share the information using social media, for example, Facebook, Twitter, and Orkut. Web 2.0 is a combination of the second-generation technology World Wide Web (WWW) along with the web services and it is the computing type that is used today.

6. Virtualization

It came into existence 40 years back and it is becoming the current technique used in IT firms. It employs a software layer over the hardware and using this it provides the customer with cloud-based services.

7. Utility Computing

Based on the need of the user, utility computing can be used. It provides the users, company, clients or based on the business need the data storage can be taken for rent and used.

Conclusion

Cloud Computing has emerged from the 1950s to the current year and companies are relying completely on cloud computing based on their specific needs. Before cloud computing was not accepted and used, later on looking at its features, people are investing money to buy cloud data storage.