What is cloud computing ?
Cloud computing is defined as a type of computing that relies on
sharing computing resources rather than having local servers or personal
devices to handle
applications. Cloud computing is comparable to
grid computing,
a type of computing where unused processing cycles of all computers in a
network are harnesses to solve problems too intensive for any
stand-alone machine.
In cloud computing, the word
cloud (also phrased as "the cloud") is used as a metaphor for "
the Internet," so the phrase
cloud computing means "a type of Internet-based computing," where different services
— such as servers, storage and applications
— are delivered to an organization's computers and devices through the Internet.
How Cloud Computing Works
The goal of cloud computing is to apply traditional
supercomputing, or
high-performance computing
power, normally used by military and research facilities, to perform
tens of trillions of computations per second, in consumer-oriented
applications such as financial portfolios, to deliver personalized
information, to provide data storage or to power large, immersive online
computer games.
To do this, cloud computing uses
networks of large groups of
servers
typically running low-cost consumer PC technology with specialized
connections to spread data-processing chores across them. This shared
IT infrastructure contains large pools of systems that are linked together. Often,
virtualization techniques are used to maximize the power of cloud computing.