Even though cloud computing has been around longer than most people would guess, and despite the fact that is without a trace of doubt a technology that is not only here to stay, but that will become more and more prevalent as time passes, there are still a lot of people out there how don’t know too much about it. In the interest of bringing this topic closer to them, we decided to make a short overview of some basic types of clouds and cloud-based services.
Table of Contents
Types of Cloud Systems
There are three basic types of clouds, public, private and hybrid. Some would add community clouds to this classification, but these three will do for a basic introduction.
Public
The majority (if not all) of the cloud systems that you have had the chance to encounter belong to this group. Public clouds are, as their name implies, available for use by general public. This includes services like Dropbox or Google Drive. They can range from simple storage providers to cloud providers offering applications and business solutions.
Private
Private cloud systems are those belonging to specific companies, and they are protected from outside intrusions. They are usually, though not necessarily, hosted on the company’s hardware, and managed by the company’s IT staff. Even though maintaining your cloud is a privacy endeavor, the security that comes with these cloud systems is exceptional, which more than justifies the cost.
Hybrid
As is probably obvious from the name, hybrid cloud systems are a combination of public and private clouds. This will enable you to keep a decent amount of intrusion protection, while still harnessing some of the public cloud’s resources. The level and type of integration of the public and private clouds are determined by the cloud’s owner, which affords for great versatility.
Types of Cloud Services
Most of these services an on public clouds, but they could be set up hybrid clouds as well. Basic types of cloud services include SaaS (Software as a Service), PaaS (Platform as a Service) and Iaas (Infrastructure as a Service).
Software as a Service
Saas solutions usually revolve around offering different cloud-based applications to businesses or individuals. Advantages of using this kind of applications over traditional ones include the fact that you don’t have to use your resources to run the applications, as the cloud provider handles that, and that you don’t have to worry about application updating or maintenance. Saas solutions are easily accommodated to your needs and are becoming increasingly popular among businesses of all profiles and sizes.
Platform as a Service
Providers of PaaS services are offering application developers an environment in which they can create, test and deploy their software. Solutions of this kind come with useful set of tools and enable the developers to streamline their process for maximum efficiency.
Infrastructure as a Service
IaaS solutions provide you with the basic necessities for maintaining a cloud, which is to say hardware, basic setup, bandwidth, storage and so on. Both PaaS and SaaS providers could technically use the services of an IaaS providers to build their platform on. In this regard, providers of IaaS services are similar to web hosts.
Article by Samuel Evans
Samuel is a writer and blogger for the Australian company Crucial.com.au currently exploring everything related to technology.