Cloud Computing is the single most technology that allows us to access applications that are not available on our systems. It also allows us to access our files on different computers using the internet. Cloud computing is generally referred to an exercise that entails delivering hosted services over the internet. It is believed that the term got its name from the cloud symbol that is often used to represent internet on IT related diagrams/designs or flow charts. This is a budding computing technology that uses the internet and central remote servers for data and application maintenance. Cloud computing permits consumers and businesses to use applications without installing them on their own machines. This is an efficient technology because it enables centralized storage, better bandwidth, greater memory and enhanced processing.

A Changing Picture
With cloud computing gaining momentum, there are numerous IT key players who are trying to take over as much share as they can from this continuously expanding market. With Google leading in the development environment, International Business Machine (IBM), SAVIS and Terremark are heading the managed hosting services space worldwide. Amazon remains the global dominator in the field of cloud storage. And 2010 is likely to be a dynamic year for this wondrous computing vertical. With a pattern shift in the computing industry, a few industries will be affected. Software companies, hardware manufacturers and internet providers will be the first ones to be impacted and will witness significant change if cloud computing is seen as the next step of this industry. It is anticipated that with this shift, software producing companies including Google, NetSuite, Salesforce.com, Quest Software and others will benefit the most out of this changing face of the industry. Other internet-based companies such as Amazon, Microsoft and Yahoo will gain while Cloud Technology Partners and SAVIS from the consulting sub domain will harvest most of this change. However, traditional software producers like SAP AG, Blackbaud, Oracle and Lawson software may have to face a hit of this make shift of the industry.

With Google launching Chrome OS in July 2009, which was referred as a Cloud Operating System and a potential competitor of Microsoft Operating System, it was clear that the world today holds the potential to change itself yet again. In November 2009, it was revealed by global giant Google that Chrome OS would be the software basis of a web appliance.

Iaas, Paas and Saas
Cloud services are broadly divided in three categories. These include Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). Each of these serves a different rationale and offers different products for businesses and individuals globally. This concept of computing and service providing is gaining popularity because of its multiple unique offerings such as elasticity of use, low maintenance requirements, and slight requirement of technical know how. It is made easier because of the availability of high speed internet.

Amazon is treated as the giant provider of IaaS. It provides instances to virtual servers with unique IP addresses and blocks of storage on demand. Typically, in such cases, customers make use of their service provider’s application program interfaces (APIs) to deal with settings of their virtual servers and storages. These APIs help them to start, stop and configure their virtual servers. Such arrangements are specially economical and popular for enterprises as they are required to pay only for the capacity that is needed and is being used. This is often quoted as utility computing and works on the pay-for-what-you-use model that resembles the way electricity, water and fuel consumption works.

PaaS denotes hosting of software and product development tools on the provider’s infrastructure. Developers can create applications of the provider’s platform over the cloud. Providers of PaaS make use of website portals, gateway software and APIs installed on the customer’s computer. Today, who has not heard of GoogleApps that cater to a variety of applications online including maps and communication applications such GoogleWave.  Another leader in this category of cloud computing is Force.com, which is a product of SalesForce.com. Besides the numerous benefits of PaaS, at times developers are not allowed to move off the software they created at the provider’s platform. They should know that currently there are no standards for interoperability or data portability in the cloud.

Under the SaaS cloud model, a portal acts as a front end panel for interaction with the customers from where the vendor provides hardware infrastructures and software products. Inventory control, web based email and database processing are some of the offerings of SaaS that make it a broad market. As the service providers host both application and data, the end user (customer/consumer) is free to use the service from anywhere and anytime.

Cloud and the World Wide Web
Because cloud computing services are sold on demand, the user has an option of using it for as little as a minute to an hour. They can use the services at any time they wish. With significant enhancements in virtualization and availability of lightening fast internet connection, cloud computing will undoubtedly gain popularity. Having boasted so much about the ’cloud’, it seems inevitable to leave this word unattended here. The cloud may be of two types--public or private. While a public cloud treats the whole world’s internet users as their customers and sells services to anyone who has access to the world wide web, a private cloud is a proprietary network that has limited consumer base and provides hosted services to only a limited number of people. In cases where a public cloud resource is used by a provider to create a private cloud, it is termed as virtual private cloud. Nevertheless, the ultimate objective of cloud computing is to provide an effortless and scalable access to IT services and computing resources.

With year 2010 just at the doorstep and with rivalry heating up between those who debate if web appliance browser-based applications seem like a more dreadful competitor of a PC running Windows, it is not too much to expect a new face or should we say a new era of computing that will soon start to take over the world of standalone PCs with installed applications!