Cloud Computing Technology: Everything You Need To Know About Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is a process that is increasingly popular in IT areas. In fact, according to a survey published in Forbes magazine, by 2020 83% of the workload in companies will be in the cloud. This is a considerable number, especially when you consider that until recently the term cloud or cloud computing was unknown or exactly what it was referring to was not known.  

Today business practices demand not only their knowledge and use, but a migration to this type of model due to the benefits in cost and performance, among others.

Computing in the cloud or cloud computing is a technology by means of which the resources of the local computer are disregarded and the capacity for computational storage and processing based on the Internet - the cloud - is taken advantage of. In this measure, only an internet connection is necessary to access resources that the local user does not have.

“The idea is to share computing power between many companies and people, thus reducing the cost of that computing capacity for those who take advantage of it. The value of timeshare and the core value of cloud computing are virtually the same, only the current resources are much better and more profitable. "

 Now, from a more conceptual perspective, cloud computing ends up being a change in the paradigm since it proposes a panorama in which access to information and technological infrastructure is practically ubiquitous.  

In this order of ideas, a manager can review and modify the progress of a project in real time from his cell phone, that is, without the need to have the technological infrastructure in place, from anywhere in the world.

The term cloud is used as a metaphor for the internet, because flow charts usually represent it with this figure. However, cloud computing is a term attributed to John McCarthy, who in 1961 was the first to mention the idea that computer timeshare technology could lead to further processing power.  Could sell as a service.

In principle, the essential element in cloud computing is the cloud itself, that is, the internet.  Based on this, we illustrate an example in which a user decides to work with a provider X.Once he accepts the terms and conditions, he has access to the computing power that said provider offers him;  be it storage space, high-demand processing power or even software or platform.

Despite looking distant, this cloud is closer than you think.  In fact, chances are you're in it right now.  

The top 5 cloud apps for consumers currently are:

1. Facebook

2. Twitter

3. YouTube

4. LinkedIn

5. Pinterest

An example of a cloud storage service that you have surely used is Google Drive. This is just one of the multiple functionalities of the Google Suite.  Through it, a user can store from 15 GB to 10 TB.

71.3% of all cloud services are focused on companies

It is clear that every cloud resource is tangible, therefore physical and "real".  In this order of ideas, cloud services are located in the offices of the provider that the user has chosen, such as the offices of Google or Facebook.

There are 3 main types of cloud:

Private clouds are those that offer computer services through a private internal network, exclusive to some users and not available to the general public. It is also known as an internal or corporate cloud.

The public cloud is those computer services that are offered by external providers through the internet, therefore, they are available to everyone.

This type of cloud combines both characteristics, which allows a dynamic between clouds, depending on the needs and the costs that are available.  This solution is clearly the most flexible of all.

Now, there are a series of categories within the clouds described above which are:

• Software as a Service (SaaS)

• Platform as Services (PaaS)

• Infrastructure as a service (IaaS)

It is important to keep in mind that although cloud services offer many benefits, they depend on the nature of the company that wants to implement them. In this order of ideas, some operations may not be as convenient for IT areas.  

The main benefits are:

Investment costs: Because there is no need to invest in infrastructure, the initial investment costs are much lower.

Unlimited resources: The resources that can be contracted in the cloud are practically unlimited. In other words, you can always access more storage space, greater processing power or more robust applications.

Zero Maintenance: Since the entire infrastructure is run by a third party, IT areas focus on more operational functions, rather than lengthy maintenance and upgrade processes.

Security: If considered a public cloud, providers generally have the most robust security systems available on the market. In this way, any type of cyber attack is avoided.

Information Security: By having the information hosted on providers' servers with extensive infrastructure, the information backup processes are constant, making it practically impossible to lose information.

On average, a company experiences about 23.2 cloud-related threats each month.

Currently there are a large number of companies dedicated to cloud services, however, the three leading companies in the market at the moment are:

• Google Cloud Platform (GCP)

• Amazon Web Services (AWS)

• Microsoft Azure

Among these leaders, GCP is the fastest growing platform for adoption. The communication and messaging tools package, G Suite, runs under the same infrastructure that the company uses in its end-user products, which is made up of a series of modular packages that include storage services, data analysis and machine learning. 

The reception that this system has had has attracted the attention of global companies such as Coca Cola, HSBC, Philips and HTC, among others.  Notable companies include companies like Apple, who made the decision to migrate some of their services to GCP from AWS. 

Similarly, Evernote migrated its nearly 200 million users in 2016. According to Ben McCormack, VP of Operations, “Evernote will see great improvements in performance, security, efficiency and scalability.  Migrating to the cloud also allows us to focus efforts and resources on issues of greatest importance to us. ”  

Also, Spotify, one of the world's largest streaming music streaming platforms, decided to migrate its infrastructure to GCP in order to expand its market.

Among other large companies that have decided to migrate, is Ubisoft, a company dedicated to video game development. According to Cyril Erbin, Lead Programmer, “It was a great challenge and a great achievement to launch the game –From Dust– in the web browser, especially since we had little experience in web development.  

Google App Engine and Google Cloud Storage played an important role in our success. "

Finally, Twitter also decided to integrate GCP within its solutions in order to be at the forefront.  While they are not planning to move their entire infrastructure, their strategy is a hybrid combination that allows them to get the most out of it. 

According to Twitter CTO Parag Agrawal, "We are working with the Google Cloud to move cold data warehousing and our flexible Hadoop computing clusters to the Google Cloud Platform.  

This will allow us to improve the experience and productivity of our engineering teams that work with our data platform. ”

The cloud is here to stay. Mobility, access and flexibility are imperative characteristics for managers today.  In this order of ideas, it is important to be at the forefront and create strategic alliances with important providers in this type of service. From this point of view, the Google suite is by far the best ally in terms of costs, implementation and above all, innovation, not in vain is the largest internet company on the market today.