Cloud computing as the Next Big Thing (Part 1 of 2)

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http://selectioneffect.info/blog/programming/cloud-computing-as-the-next-big-thing-part-1-of-2/

Cloud computing provides many benefits to businesses with heavy computational needs. 


The public in general can also benefit from centralized computing, IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) and the sheer power that heavy-weight computational power and massive redundant storage brings with it.

People always want to know what the "Next Big Thing" is. As it turns out, the Next Big Thing is already here, and it's been here for a while. The key is to make use of it, so that its potential as the Next Big Thing can be realised. Society in general will benefit from a new computing revolution. The potential impact of cloud computing cannot be overstated, and the benefits to daily life, as well as progress, is immense.

As is pointed out in this article about the cloud computing benefits for businesses, we've had something like cloud computing for many years now. A business should make use of the infrastructure that's available for rent. It just makes sense. Computing power is the most important asset that a business can have. Even a good list of contacts is unimportant, because you can actually just generate leads and marketing if you have enough computing power.

With the extant availability of Internet connectivity in most homes, the public can now use the cloud for storage, processing, and interacting. The cloud providers have met general computing needs with unexpected ease. For example: Gmail has become the email platform of choice for the individual user, and even corporate entities have switched to it. The old, outdated and singularly unfriendly methods of "Exchange-ing" emails and contacts are a thing of the past.

In the next article, I'll explore the connection that the cloud has with mobile devices, and why that really makes cloud computing the Next Big Thing.

In this article, the focus is on cloud computing itself. What is it? Where does it come from? Where can I get it?

All are valid questions, but all easy to answer.

Google, Amazon, Yahoo! and IBM are the leading providers of cloud computing services, which include IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), PaaS (Platform) and SaaS (Software). Using this, the user of the cloud is effectively consuming computer resources on a rental basis. Of course, Gmail is free to the private consumer, as is Google Documents, which is the Word Processor/Spreadsheet/Database suite that's replaced all previous "Office" offerings.

The cloud, in essence, is a vast array of computers, with massive storage networks connected to it, which can execute tasks in parallel and store data across a distributed, fail-safe array of devices. It's like a supercomputer that consists of many, many computing nodes, spread out over a wide geographic area, connected in fail-proof ways, and accessed over the public Internet, which has its own fail-safe measures in place.

From a programmer's perspective, cloud programming is a dream come true. Every cloud provider has an API that is reasonably similar, so that adapting from one cloud to the other doesn't involve a big retraining exercise. 


The point of the cloud is to provide computing needs, and that necessitates providing an infrastructure that a programmer can access and utilise effectively. As such, a cloud platform will include scheduling, computing, communication and storage APIs as standard. None of the normal boilerplate code that normal applications need is relevant on a cloud, and many of the design decisions, which typically make of break a program from the start, need not be made. 


Clouds are stable and secure. Application security is virtually guaranteed by design. A lot more programming time can be spent on what the application is supposed to do, and less time on how it does it. Alternatively, less time have to be spent on a cloud application to get the same or better functionality, usability and functionality than on a legacy application.

All of these things make for a much better experience as far as the end consumer is concerned.

Next: Cloud computing as the Next Big Thing (Part 2 of 2)