CLOUD COMPUTING FUNDAMENTALS

Cloud computing is the internet that provides access to delivery of different services such as servers, networking, software and databases especially for computing power, data storage. It offers a wide range of services with limitless potential, epic proportions of creativity , faster time-to-solution and to-market. Basically, it is resources being rented by other companies such as storage space and CPU cycles. Microsoft, Amazon and Google are types of cloud computing companies. The purpose of this paper is to compare the evaluations of the services the top three cloud computing service providers offered in the market.

Leading Cloud Computing Providers

Many Cloud Computing Providers compete to be the top that offers cloud computing services such as storage, databases, servers, and software.  Cloud Computing Providers are led by Amazon Webs Service, followed by Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.

1. Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Amazon launched Amazon Web Services (AWS) in 2010 and the top cloud service provider.  AWS is available in more than 190 countries and over a million active customers use AWS.  AWS offers a wide range of IaaS, Paas, and many services from infrastructure technologies to emerging technologies such as Virtual Private Cloud, Elastic Cloud Compute (EC2), AWS Key Management Service, and many other offers^[21].  AWS cost-effectively makes moving an application to the cloud and develops a new product faster and easier.  AWS key infrastructure is made to be the most flexible and secure that can even satisfy the security requirements.  AWS continuously increases the speed of innovation with leveraged new technologies. 

2. Microsoft Azure

Microsoft Azure was launched in the year 2010 by Microsoft company that is available in 140 countries and consists of 60 regions worldwide.  Azure is less expensive and only offers pricing advantages such as free extended security updates.  Without leaving the network, users can transfer data with fewer costs, less latency, and high security.  Azure offers advanced featured, most intelligent products and services such as AI + Machine learning, Developer Tools, Microsoft Azure Stack, and others featured.

3. Google Cloud

Google Cloud was launched in 2008 by Google. Google cloud available in 67 zones across 16 countries.  Google Cloud provides a Google Security Model that focuses on keeping all data safe.  Google Cloud has better performance in network infrastructure that access to Google's private fiber networking.  Google Cloud offers services such as AI and Machine learning, API Management, Databases, and other services.  Also, Google Cloud provides a complete product such as Google Hardware, Firebase, Chrome Enterprise, and various products.

Cloud Services

There are 3 types of cloud services which are popular in the market. They are Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS).

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

IaaS is a virtualized computing infrastructure that allows carrying out provision and management over the Internet. In other words, customization and configuration over the resources can be done by consumers to satisfy their specific needs. Meanwhile, consumers only pay for what they used and it benefits small companies that need the support of the hardware and the software to create their own private  network.

Platform as a Service (PaaS)

PaaS is more specialized than IaaS by little as it offers the framework needed to offer help in software development. This reduces the cost in software development for various platforms as users can access the software development tools provided through the Internet for free. Examples of PaaS are Microsoft Azure, Google App Engine and AWS Elastic Beanstalk

Software as a Service (SaaS)

SaaS deploys fully-developed software over the Internet and receives payment via subscription. It is unnecessary to install the software as users can directly use the SaaS software by browsing any web browsers. Examples of SaaS are Microsoft Office 365, Google Apps and Cisco WebEx. 

Cloud Models

There are three types of cloud models : Public Cloud, Private Cloud and Hybrid Cloud.

Public Cloud

This model is widely used in software development as the scalability is smooth and easy due to its large amount of available space. Applications can be designed with portable attributes and often tested and analyzed in the public cloud before the production in the private cloud. It is versatile as it is “pay as you go” structured and this provides convenience to the consumers to plan the capacity on demand. Unfortunately, the service provider has the full control over the operating system and consumers are forced to encounter any significant infrastructure changes if the platform undergoes any changes. Moreover, consumers have to risk themselves for the unpatched security vulnerability.

Private Cloud

Private cloud is more to business like and widely used in organizations. This is because it has firewall protection and offers security control to the organization although it is costly. Its functionality is quite similar with public cloud, but only authorized users can access the data. Moreover, the organization is able to make access restrictions to each asset and relocate the data. It is the responsibility of the organization to update the software and the infrastructure in the private cloud, which means any changes from the provider will not affect the organization.

Hybrid Cloud

It is a combination of the two types of cloud, public and private cloud, providing interaction between them. Hybrid cloud has the capability such as the scalable computing power in the public cloud, and provides the security control in the private cloud at the same time. Data is able to be stored and transferred securely to a public cloud environment with the support of the features in private cloud such as the firewalls and the encryption protocols