Cloud Computing. It’s one of those terms that is used almost daily for a myriad of computer related topics, but the background to which most users don’t really know. For this reason, in this article we want to explain what it actually consists of, and why it is a topic that you would be interested in learning more about.
“The cloud” is that concept that many of us have that “something” is in a remote place, but to which we have access (paradoxically, contrary to what happens with clouds); In the cloud there are, for example, services like Netflix or Prime Video, but so are others like Google Drive or Dropbox… in any case, we always talk about that “something” that we mentioned before is digital. But what about cloud computing?
What is cloud computing?
We have mentioned before that video streaming services such as Netflix are actually in the cloud, as is remote storage with services such as OneDrive. This means that, taking these two examples, the data is on servers physically hosted in another site, and from which you receive the information via the Internet, be it the photos of your vacations saved in Dropbox, or the last series you are watching on Disney+.
Obviously, the data of the series that you are watching on Netflix is actually hosted on a physical server (or hundreds, thousands of them) only that it is far from you, and that is the concept that you must take into account to understand what it is. cloud computing.
Cloud computing refers to a service delivery model where data processing (computing) is delivered over the Internet remotely, and is what enables services like NVIDIA’s GeForce Now or the upcoming Project Q for Sony’s upcoming handheld console: the computing load is done on servers far from you, and what you get is simply the result.
This allows you, for example, to be able to play triple A titles on a low-power laptop that is already relatively old, which is exactly what GeForce Now offers and what Sony is going to offer with Project Q.
Public, private and even hybrid
With what we have told you before, broadly speaking, you will already understand what cloud computing really means, but it is also interesting to know that it is not only used for the services that we have given as an example, and it is that in fact we can divide it in three types: public, private and hybrid.
In essence, this division depends on where the cloud infrastructure is physically located, as well as the way in which these services are made available to the user:
- public: It is the most common model, where a service provider makes its infrastructure available for users to use (generally in exchange for a monthly payment), generally through the Internet. The most important examples are Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Microsoft Azure, as well as Google Gloud Platform.
- private: Private cloud computing is generally concerned with the business environment. In this way, a company can have its own server infrastructure, with its own configuration and optimization and behind its firewall so that it is only accessible by them. You yourself could set up a CMS or ERP on a computer at home and have cloud computing (since the idea is to be able to access it from anywhere) but only accessible by you.
- hybrid: In this type, generally also used by companies, a cloud computing model is contracted to a third-party company (such as AWS, as we have mentioned before), who make the infrastructure available to them but configure it to their liking and only accessible for them.
