Cloud Computing: Pros and Cons Essay

The cloud can provide swift access to malleable and low budget IT resources. With the use of cloud computing, you are not required to make big direct investments in hardware and spend a lot of time on managing that hardware and associated services. Cloud Computing compromises a comprehensive set of on-demand services, such as global computing, storage, database, analytics, application, and deployment services. These services will assist an organization move quicker, reduce IT costs, and scale systems. Cloud Computing has three key categories, they are usually referred to as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Mobile as a Service (MaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS).

Cloud Computing has very many benefits especially for the businesses. First, it leads to reduced technological costs. This is because unlike purchasing of a system which is expensive, the payment is only made upon usage and thus making it cheap (Marston et al 2011). Secondly, there are much reduced

This research paper tackles the issues that faces Cloud Computing today and gives the experts and industry’s point of view on the matter. The aspects explored are the significant industry questions that have risen about the use of Cloud Computing, business value, organization impact, adaptability, limitations, initial cost of implementation, and the severe business security risks

The national institute of standards and technology (NIST) defines cloud computing as “a model that is meant to enable convenient access to a network that is on demand to a pool of shared computing resources that are configurable” (Jansen & Timothy, 2015). Computer system resources includes, but not limited to, storage, system servers, applications, services, and networks. Cloud computing allows these computing resources to be accessed virtually anytime, anywhere. Cloud computing opens up new possibilities in the field of information technology that many of us have or will experience. As the clients or the customers are very excited about the numerous opportunities that come along with the cloud computing technology such as a reduction in the costs of capital, and the opportunity of divesting themselves of management of infrastructure, and a massive focus on the core competencies, and most importantly, the agility that is usually offered by the provision of computing that is on-demand, there are challenges and other numerous issues that need to be looked into and addressed before a universal adoption might happen (Jansen & Timothy, 2015).

Cloud computing is the answer for “affordable” business technology platforms. It is a more affordable solution for media content than any other medium, and this is why Netflix, Amazon.com, and Apple are among the leaders in cloud usage and development. Ultimately cloud computing will be the primary way data services are accessed by businesses and consumers alike. Marston, Li, Bandyopadhyay, Zhang, and Ghalsasi 2009 conclude cloud computing offers companies the opportunity to deploy cutting edge IT services without the enormous upfront costs that deter so many organizations from making the investment in infrastructure. Now that affordable solutions are becoming more readily available it is likely that more small and

By 2020, Forbes (McKendrick, 2012) has estimated that the cloud market will be worth $270 billion; this suggests that the market is expanding rapidly and users are becoming more aware of this feature. Many people, though, still ponder over the exact purpose of cloud computing: Cloud computing is a group of offline servers that are networked together to allow data to be stored centrally. For example, Drop box is an established cloud storage company that allows users to store documents, images and videos on their servers. This type of cloud computing is known as ‘Software-as-a-Service’, which are business applications that are hosted by the provider and delivered as a service (Hurwitz, 2010). Hurwitz also mentions two other types of cloud computing: ‘Platform as a Service (PaaS)’ and ‘Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)’. ‘Platform as a service’ is where the consumer will create an application, using tools and software from the provider, then the provider will administer the consumer with networks, storage and servers. ‘Infrastructure’ as a service is where the provider will provide the consumer with physical computer or virtual machine.

Cloud computing comes in three distinct implementations or models, each with its own pros and cons. The advantage is that each can be tailored to meet a specific need. The three different implementations are Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS). In IaaS, an organization uses the cloud to provide virtual resources, such as storage space for data or online databases. Amazon’s Simple Storage Service (S3) is an example of IaaS, with customers utilizing the S3 cloud to store information. PaaS implementations run on top of IaaS, giving the organization flexibility to implement customized applications, such as specific portions of Google apps. Finally, SaaS is the transition to almost all operations to the cloud. In SaaS, a small blade system is used to connect to the cloud through an Internet connection where all the software and major computing power is stored. Instead of having an OS installed on each desktop system, the OS and everything else needed is stored on the cloud servers and accessed through a web browser or custom plug-in. (Neamtiu & Dumitras, 2011)

The largest Buzzword in emerging trends for the computer world is “Cloud”. Cloud computing in the future for data, services and platform. The concept of cloud computing is to make whatever aspect it is being used in available at all times and to act as a resource. Turning computing into a utility will transform how the IT industry uses services, designs hardware and uses network infrastructures. The term “Cloud” however has many meanings, but understanding what exactly is meant by cloud computing is the first step to

Cloud computing programs, or the ideas of them, have been around since the 1960s, but it was not until the 1990s that the services were finally available due to advancements in technology. But to fully understand the importance of this innovation we must define what cloud computing is. Per the National Institute of Standards and Technology, an agency that creates standards and guidelines for providing information security for all agency operations and assets has defined cloud computing as a model that have easy access to a pool of shared network. Cloud computing programs must have the following five characteristics to be defined as such: on-demand self-service, broad network access, resource pooling, rapid elasticity, and measured service. Once the program satisfies these five elements in can meet one of three service models: Software as a Service, Platform as a service, and Infrastructure as a Service and one of four development models: private cloud, community cloud, public cloud, and hybrid cloud. For the sake of this paper we will focus on Software as a Service (Grance, 2011, 2-3).

Cloud computing is a part of internet growth, it’s the next generation of internet. Cloud computing deliver everything –computing resource, infrastructure, application, and business process to personal collaboration – and can be access as service wherever and whenever through various devices. The cloud itself is a set of hardware, networks, storages, services, and interface that enable to delivery of computing as services based on user demand. (Hurwitz, J, 2009)

Cloud computing refers to the delivery of computing services over the internet. It is the use of computing services over the web located in another site or provided by a third party vendor as opposed to using one’s own hard disk, personal computer or server. Cloud services allow individuals and business organizations to exploit software and hardware that are set up by third parties at remote locations. Therefore, we can define cloud computing as computing services where a broad set of systems are connected to private or public networks, to provide dynamically quantifiable infrastructure for application, data, and file storage (Kling 2014).

In the last few decades, the increased capability and accessibility of Internet had resulted in many benefits to the world of computing. One of the most prominent contribution t to power cloud computing. Cloud computing, a relatively new technology, has experienced tremendous growth since its inception, with organizations and individual finding it beneficial, due to its convenience and ability to deliver computing resources at cost effective terms. The cloud offers on-demand cloud computing resources, eliminating the need for organizations to purchase, install, store and maintain costly computing infrastructure. It also offers reliability and flexibility in terms of computing. With the cloud model, users can have services in three paradigms. First, cloud as an infrastructure offers the users on-demand computing infrastructure, including

A business of this size can take advantage of wide ranges of computing options available, such as storage and networking capabilities that can easily be scaled up or down based on the growth of the business. Finally, for mid to large corporations, cloud computing is beneficial as these companies require complex hosting needs and wide infrastructure requirements, demanding applications and high traffic websites. For them, cloud computing can reduce costs and provide increased efficiency, agility, flexibility, and productivity.

Cloud computing have revolutionized life as we know it; it allows people to store, manage, and access their data by using a network of remote servers which are hosted on the internet rather than using a local server or own hardware. A recent study conducted by KPMG found that 81% of businesses were either evaluating cloud services, planned a cloud implementation or had already implemented a cloud strategy [1]. Organizations tend to use the cloud to reduce costs and improve efficiency. Cloud is not a commodity, some people think that it comes out of the sky, while in fact it comes from physical hardware inside brick and mortar facilities which are connected to hundreds of miles by networking cables.

“Cloud computing is a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction. This cloud model is composed of five essential characteristics, three service models, and four deployment models.”