SUMMARY

Cloud computing is using the principle of using processing power of a remote computer to run programs which are displayed on a local computer through a network. Today, number of smartphone, tablet users is increasing. Along with the development of smartphones and tablets are bundled services, notably cloud services.

Cloud service is the delivery of software or storage which was packaged so it can be automated deliver to customers. According to a study of London’s School of Economics, cloud computing is one of fastest growing sectors of information technology. Cloud computing not only offers the convenience for personal users; it also makes more efficient business processes for business users.

Cloud computing provides their service according to three models: infrastructure as a service (laaS), platform as a service (PaaS) and software as a service (SaaS). LaaS is the most basic. Cloud clients can connect to these services by web browser or mobile application.

In the SaaS model which provides customer relationship management (CRM), email, virtual desktop, communication, games…Our group has discussed some examples of this model such as UNCC email system which was move to Microsoft’s Outlook online service, a cloud email services. With Google documents and Microsoft SharePoint, users can connect and collaborate on documents and projects. Another application was discussed in our blog is cloud gaming. Onlive is a new cloud gaming service. This is gaming on demand which delivers games from the cloud to users PC or TV. The benefit of this service is users don’t need to download those games to their PC or a high configuration PC to play high quality games. Games will directly stream into user’s browsers and users only need a stable internet connection and a normal PC, tablets, TV or smartphones to play games.

Another model in cloud computing is LaaS, which provides virtual machine, servers storage, load balancers, network… One of most common using services is cloud storage services which provide many benefits for Internet users. It is a convenient way to store and share data while saving storage space on their PC or other devices such as smartphones, tablets…However, besides the advantages of this service, it is also related to copyright issues or data lost if the provider’s servers crashes. In order to solve the data lost problem, we can replicate data over multiple servers for maintain the data exchange. In the case of MegaUpload, a popular file storage and sharing website that was recently confiscated by the US government under the suspicion of piracy and copyright infringement. Many users lost their data when this site was closed. Moreover, users can face with the risk of data loss from hackers when cloud storage server being hacked.

The last model in cloud computing is PaaS, which provides execution runtime, database, web server, development tools… When cloud service is developing more, the number of users increases so the amount of servers, databases will grow more. In order to manage those amounts of servers, companies such as Scair.net appear to help to control and management the servers. Scalr is a software that auto-scales websites. Besides, Scalr provides other features such as disaster recovery and server management. Our group has discussed three reasons why you should use Scair in your businesses or personal use. The first reason is that Scair can bring the simplicity and automation to cloud computing management. Second reason is that you can easily management your server such as added, changed or deleted. The last reason is cost benefit.

In summary, although cloud computing has some negative and side effects, it is still developing and attract more users because of their benefits. These models which we have discussed will continue to create new generations of applications and business. A new Internet based service where everyone cans easily working on the Internet that alternative to traditional business.