The definition of cloud computing is at first glance very confusing: it is a model for providing ubiquitous and convenient network access to a common pool of configurable computing resources (for example, servers, applications, networks, storage systems and services) that can be quickly provisioned and released with minimal management effort. and the need to interact with the provider.

In order to better imagine what cloud computing is, we can give a simple example: earlier, a user used certain software (messengers and programs) installed on his PC to access e-mail, but now he simply goes to the website of the company whose services he likes e-mail, directly through the browser, without the use of intermediaries.

But this example is more suitable for private clouds. We are interested in these technologies in business. Modern implementation began in 2006. Then Amazon introduced its web services infrastructure, which not only provides hosting, but also provides the client with remote computing power.

Three models of "clouds"

Recall that there are three cloud computing service models:

Software as a Service (SaaS, Software as a Servise). The consumer is provided with software tools - provider applications that run on the cloud infrastructure.

Platform as a Service (PaaS, Platform as a Service). The consumer is provided with the means to deploy on the cloud infrastructure consumer-created or purchased applications developed using provider-supported tools and programming languages.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS, Infrastructure as a Service). The consumer is provided with data processing, storage, networking and other basic computing resources on which the consumer can deploy and run arbitrary software, including operating systems and applications.

Benefits of cloud services

Last year, the total volume of the world market in the field of cloud technologies amounted to about $40 billion. Some experts predict that by 2020 this figure will reach $240 billion. Russia ranks 34th in the introduction of cloud computing in business with an indicator of $250 million.

There are several advantages associated with the use of cloud technologies.

Availability. Access to information stored in the cloud can be obtained by anyone who has a computer, tablet, any mobile device connected to the Internet. The following advantage follows from this.

Mobility. The user does not have a permanent attachment to one workplace. From anywhere in the world, managers can receive reports, and managers can monitor production.

Profitability. One of the important advantages is the reduced cost. The user does not need to buy expensive, large computing power computers and software, and he is also freed from the need to hire a specialist to maintain local IT technologies.

Rental. The user receives the necessary package of services only at the moment when he needs it, and, in fact, pays only for the number of purchased functions.

Flexibility. All necessary resources are provided by the provider automatically.

High technology. Large computing power that is available to the user, which can be used to store, analyze and process data.

Reliability. Some experts argue that the reliability provided by modern cloud computing is much higher than the reliability of local resources, arguing that few enterprises can afford to purchase and maintain a full-fledged data center.

Google Apps for Business highlights these same benefits, only adding that by using their cloud computing, the company protects the environment, explaining that Apps services are powered by Google's ultra-low power data centers, so the carbon and energy costs of using them will significantly lower when using local servers.

How much does it all cost?

The cost of Google Apps for Business, according to the company, is $5 per user per month, with 5 GB of free cloud disk space (if you wish, you can buy another 20 GB to 16 TB for prices ranging from $4 to $1430 per month, respectively).

The user can also purchase Google Apps with a safe for $10 per month, which includes a standard package of services plus archiving of important business data, collection of data for legal purposes, search and export of any corporate data. Provision of domains - for a separate cost. It is worth noting that one email account is considered a user.

Microsoft is also fighting for its share of cloud computing. They are based on Office 365. She emphasizes a comprehensive CRM solution, arguing that Microsoft Dynamics CRM includes marketing, sales, and customer service management blocks. That is, with the help of this function, it is possible to solve a range of relationship management tasks, from attracting customers to cross-selling.

Smart analysis, role-playing interface and high mobility also stand out.

The purchase of Office 365 offers several options: Office Professional Plus 2010 - 555 rubles. per month per user. Subsequent tariffs cost 250, 300, 525 and 750 rubles. per month for each user, respectively. By the way, Office 365 is free to try.

Despite all the positive reviews, there is also some criticism of cloud computing.

The main criticism is that when using virtual software, information automatically falls into the hands of the developer of this software. So says Richard Stallman, founder of the free software movement.

The problem of data integration with both internal corporate and cloud services of other providers is highlighted.

Experts point to the problem of uncontrolled data: the information left by the user will be stored for years without his knowledge, or he will not be able to change any part of it. For example, on Google services, the user is not able to delete services that he has not used and even individual groups of data.

Despite this, most experts are of the opinion that the advantages of this technology outweigh its disadvantages.

Cloud (scattered) computing(English) cloud computing, the term is also used Cloud (scattered) data processing) is a data processing technology in which computer resources and capacities are provided to the user as an Internet service.

The user has access to his own data, but cannot manage and should not care about the infrastructure, operating system and the actual software with which he works. The term "Cloud" is used as a metaphor based on the image of the Internet in a computer network diagram, or as an image of a complex infrastructure that hides all the technical details. According to an IEEE document published in 2008, “Cloud computing is a paradigm in which information is permanently stored on servers on the Internet and temporarily cached on the client side, for example, on personal computers, game consoles, laptops, smartphones, etc. .".

Cloud data processing as a concept includes the following concepts:

• "Everything as a service"
• "Infrastructure as a Service"
• "Platform as a Service"
• "Software as a Service"
• "Data as a Service"
• "Workplace as a Service"
• other technological trends that share the belief that the Internet is able to meet the needs of users in data processing.

For example, Google Apps provides online business applications that are accessed through an Internet browser while the software and data are stored on Google servers. The operating system Google Chrome OS is designed to work with the "cloud".

Although the term "cloud computing" is well-established, in Russian it has a different meaning than the original. "Cloud" in addition to the cloud has another meaning, namely scattered; actually the meaning of "scattered" is implied in English terminology.

For cloud computing, the main assumption is the unevenness of the request for resources from the client(s). To smooth out this unevenness to provide a service, another layer is placed between real hardware and middleware - server virtualization. Servers running applications are virtualized and load balancing is carried out both by means of software and by means of distributing virtual servers over real ones.

Criticism

The concept of cloud computing has been criticized by the free software community and in particular by Richard Stallman:

You should not use web applications for your computing processes, for example, because you lose control over them. And it's no better than using any proprietary program. Do your calculations on your computer using programs that respect your freedom. If you use any proprietary program or someone else's web server, you become defenseless. You become a toy in the hands of the one who developed this software.

- "Cloud computing is a trap, warns GNU founder Richard Stallman" interview with The Guardian

What are cloud services really?

Cloud computing evokes a whole range of emotions. "In the field of networking technology, this phrase is a symbol of today," says Gartner lead analyst Ben Pring, and many of his colleagues agree with him. But at the same time, the problem is that everyone interprets the term "cloud computing" in their own way.

Often, the word "cloud" means the entire Internet: that is, everything that is outside the computer's firewall automatically falls into the "cloud" - including traditional outsourcing. Others see cloud services as an upgraded version of utility computing: in fact, virtual servers accessible via the Internet.

If you are looking for a way to expand the IT capabilities of an enterprise and at the same time do not plan yet to invest in creating a new infrastructure, attracting new staff and retraining employees, or licensing new software, then sooner or later you will come to the idea of ​​cloud services. These types of services are available in real time via the Internet and significantly expand existing IT capabilities.

Cloud services are still in their infancy today, with a diverse team of providers large and small ready to provide you with a multitude of equally diverse cloud-based services, from full-featured applications to data storage and spam filtering. If you need several types of such services, then most likely you will have to connect each of them separately - perhaps even from different providers. Of course, as this area develops, larger providers begin to appear - aggregators and integrators of cloud services - but so far there are very few of them. In the meantime, let's look at what types of cloud services exist today.

SaaS (Software As a Service)

This type of cloud service uses a multitenant architecture: it provides browser access to a single application to thousands of customers. The abbreviation SaaS stands for Software-as-a-Service - software as a service, as opposed to SaaP - Software-as-a-Product - when you buy a software product "in a box". This type of service is convenient for the consumer in that it does not require an upfront investment in a server or software licensing.

SaaS services are based on subscription principle: the software works on the side of the provider and is provided for rent to subscribers, while the payment depends on the number of users, the volume of transactions, etc. It is also convenient that applications can be customized to specific user needs. Today, one of the most successful players in the SaaS market is Salesforce.com.

Utility IT services (utility computing)

The idea of ​​utility IT services is far from new, but today this form of cloud services is experiencing a renaissance, thanks to monsters such as Amazon.com, Sun, IBM and many other companies offering access to drives and virtual servers on demand by customers. Previously, such services were used mainly for ancillary purposes, but today they can replace even part of the enterprise data center.

Other providers offer solutions that help IT companies create virtual data centers from public servers: for example, use memory, I/O devices, drives and computing resources as a virtual pool accessible through the network.

Cloud Web Services

Close to SaaS are web service providers that offer APIs that developers can use over the web without having to download a full-featured application.

These types of services are offered by a wide range of providers, from companies that provide individual business services (including traditional credit card processing services) to full-blown APIs provided by, for example, Google.

Platform as a Service

Another SaaS option. This form of cloud services delivers a development environment as a service. You build your own applications running on the provider's infrastructure. Your users work with applications over the Internet - from the provider's servers.

These services are limited by the design and capabilities of the vendor, so here you will not get complete freedom for the flight of fancy, but you can count on predictability and pre-integration. An example is Google App Engine.

Managed services

One of the oldest forms of cloud services. The company that provides these services is called an MSP (managed service provider). This includes the full range of services - from software delivery to remote monitoring and full support of the IT infrastructure.

Email virus scanning services, application monitoring services, various managed security services, anti-spam services, and desktop management services fall into this category.

Commercial service platforms

Hybrid SaaS and MSP. This type of cloud computing service is most often used by commercial companies: with their help, users can order a tour tour or, for example, secretarial services from one common platform, and the service will provide them with the necessary information in accordance with the search parameters and prices entered by the user.

Internet integration

Today, the integration of cloud services is in the initial phase of its development. OpSource recently introduced the OpSource Services Bus topology, using integration technology from a small startup called Boomi. SaaS provider Workday has acquired CapeClear, an enterprise service bus (ESB) provider focused on B2B integration. Grand Central has been striving since 2005 to become a one-stop "bus in the cloud" provider and bring together smaller SaaS providers to deliver integrated solutions to end users.

But in general, interconnections between different cloud services are still quite rare today. Therefore, some people prefer instead of the phrase "cloud computing" - "cloud services", to use the term "sky computing" - "heavenly service", i.e. a system consisting of many isolated cloud services, to each of which IT clients must connect separately.

On the other hand, as virtualization and SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) slowly permeate the enterprise, the idea of ​​connected services is starting to gain more and more attention. According to some forecasts, in the future, each enterprise should become a node of the "cloud". But it is unlikely that this task will be solved in the near future - rather, it represents a long-term trend with a distant horizon.

Cloud technologies are one of the benefits of civilization. Every second Internet user uses them to store and exchange data, but in practice, few people understand how and how secure it works.

Today, active users are not limited to one gadget - everyone has a smartphone plus a laptop, desktop computer or tablet. At any time, you may need access to a file, but you don’t want to carry flash memory and other drives. The same situation arises when you need to synchronize information on your work and home PCs, make changes to documents, edit files.

Cloud technologies are distributed data processing, in which the user receives access to computer programs, computing and other capacities as an online service - in real time.

It also implies access to virtual storage from anywhere in the world. This requires any device with an internet connection and a web browser.

A good example is email. If the mail client is installed on the computer, then the data is stored in the PC memory. If the user uses mail through a browser, then this is a cloud service.

In case of technical and other problems with the service, access to data will be lost forever. This is one of the main disadvantages of online solutions. The second disadvantage is the possibility of using it if you have access to the Internet. Services have many more benefits.

Benefits of cloud technologies

1. Virtual services relieve the need to work with flash drives and solve the problem of hard disk space limitations - the user is given several gigabytes for free, and if necessary, they can be purchased.
2. No need to buy licensed software.
3. The service allows several employees or a creative group to work with one file at the same time.
4. The user can store information in any format and freely access it from any device - there is no binding to the memory of a particular computer.
5. The use of such virtual storages frees up space on the hard drive, increasing the speed of the computer.
6. Solutions allow you to abandon the staff of administrators involved in the maintenance of computers and peripherals. Virtual offices significantly simplify work, reduce costs, and allow solving complex technical problems in automatic mode.
7. They can be used on different platforms and, if necessary, scaled. The elastic and flexible structure makes this easy to do.

Come from the last century

The history of cloud technologies (computing) begins in 1970 - from the moment the American scientist Joseph Licklider voiced his idea. It consisted in the possibility of providing Internet users with access not only to data, but also to programs.

A similar idea was proposed by John McCarthy, suggesting the use of computing power as an Internet service. Soon, work in this area stopped for almost 20 years.

In the 90s, the Internet bandwidth increased, but the breakthrough did not happen due to the unpreparedness of specialized companies. Around the turn of the century, a firm emerged that gave visitors access to the app through a website. She was the first to offer access to software as a service.

In 2002, Amazon capitalized on new opportunities. His web service provided information storage and allowed calculations. Four years later, Amazon encouraged users to run their own apps.

The next stage of development was the launch of the Google Apps platform and the launch of a full-fledged operating system in the cloud, announced by Microsoft.

Technological progress, the emergence of open source software have largely contributed to the modernization and expansion of the functionality of technological solutions.

Cloud technologies appeared in Russia in 2010. At the start, the annual volume of their market was:

• $15 million from the public cloud;
• 5 million dollars - from a private company.

After 4 years, these figures increased to 125 and 33 million dollars, respectively. The upward trend continued in subsequent years, which itself indicates an interest in cloud solutions.

Kinds

• Public. This category of services is available to a large number of users and companies. Users cannot manage and maintain the cloud - these are the privileges of the owner.
• Private. The Service is used and controlled for the benefit of one organization. The IT infrastructure is located on the premises of the customer or provider.
• Hybrid. This group has the advantages of the two previous categories. Such services, as a rule, are used by organizations with seasonal activity, which lack their own capacities, so they use external resources for a certain period.

Application of cloud technologies

Today, the concept of cloud systems covers various types of services and is successfully used in education, medicine, logistics, banking, and business.

The simplest example of personal use is google cloud technologies. After installing Google Drive, the user receives storage for their data, which allows them to abandon the old ways of storing information on disks and flash memory.

Google Doc and Word Online from Yandex Disk are full-fledged editors that provide work with documents of various formats.

Education

Computers and high-speed Internet contributed to the improvement of the education system, simplified the presentation of material, and made it possible to solve other important tasks. Here are just a few of them:

• Organization of distance learning using cloud technologies in education.
• The work of students on a common project, where each member of the group and the teacher can leave comments, edits, comments, add information.
• Electronic diaries.
• Homework handover and verification for homeschooled children.

The medicine

Accurate and fast diagnostics, choosing the right treatment tactics, real-time exchange of opinions with colleagues, systematization of medical records - this is not a complete list of the application of new solutions.

In the future, cloud technologies can become a breakthrough in healthcare, providing access to information about the patient and the results of laboratory and instrumental diagnostics. Simply put, patients will not have to create cards in all hospitals - the necessary data on diseases, test results will be stored in one place.

Logistics

The cloud in logistics combines the sender, recipient, carrier company, operator into a single chain. The service allows you to track the route of shipments, communicate with each other, regardless of location, quickly solve problems associated with cargo delays.

Online services are also used as platforms for organizing tenders and selecting contractors, analyzing inventory balances and replenishing them in a timely manner, storing transportation data and determining route profitability.

Banks

Competition in the banking sector is high, which forces financial institutions to innovate in order to improve the quality and quantity of services offered and reduce their own operating costs.

The use of cloud technologies allows you to automate financial processes and solve all the above tasks with minimal costs.

Business

The business is open to innovations and actively implements them to create contact centers and virtual offices. Virtual office employees are not tied to a specific computer and location, which saves on office space rent and utility bills.

All drives, folders, economic planners, and other internal network data are played back in the cloud.

Security

Cloud technology security is an area that each provider pays special attention to. Otherwise, he will lose customers, because the IT infrastructure is used to store confidential and strategic data, so it must be securely protected.

Security depends on the type of server: virtual or dedicated. Virtual servers involve placing client information in a single environment. There is a possibility that if there is an error in the code, the owners of other accounts will see other people's data.

Dedicated servers allow you to create a more secure and functional environment, provide freedom of action when choosing and installing an operating system, software for normal operation.

Service providers always encrypt information hosted on their servers using special cryptographic software. Access to data is possible only with a password that is set by an authorized user.

The manager can always keep track of who viewed the information and at what time, what his employees were doing and what is happening on their desktop in a specific time period.

The guarantee of data safety is their daily copying. Transfer channels from servers to PC and vice versa are protected by several reliable programs so that the code cannot be cracked.

Every year there is more and more trust in online solutions. Today there are already proposals with an integrated data self-protection algorithm. The system will grant access if the environment is identified by it as secure. Otherwise, the data cannot be used.

The Internet has become an integral part of people's lives, and new opportunities are regularly emerging that can make it easier to perform various tasks. A novelty is cloud technologies that can be applied in various fields: education, medicine, logistics, and so on.

What is cloud technology?

Let's start with the definition, as cloud technologies imply the user's ability to access data without installing applications on their device, since servers provide all the support. It is important to know that such services can be both free and paid, and it all depends on the requests. To understand what the use of cloud technologies is, you need to analyze their difference from ordinary conditions.

1. For example, let's take e-mail, when the mail client is installed on the computer and all data is stored on the hard drive. In this case, the user decides what to do with the files.
2. If we talk about the mail that a person uses through a browser, then this is already a cloud technology. It is clear here that if there are problems with the server, then access to the mail will be lost.

Benefits of cloud services

To begin with, let's dwell on the existing advantages, which include:

1. To store information, you do not need to buy expensive computers and components, because everything will be stored on the "cloud".
2. PC performance increases, because cloud technologies in office work and other areas remotely run programs, so there is a lot of free space on the computer.
3. Every year, service problems are reduced, because the number of physical servers is constantly decreasing, and the software is constantly being updated.
4. The cost of purchasing software is reduced, since you only need to buy a program for the "cloud" once and that's it, and sometimes you can even order its rental.
5. Cloud technologies have no limits on the amount of stored data. In most cases, the volume of such services is in the millions of gigabytes.
6. Programs are updated automatically, so there is no need to keep track of this, as is the case with downloaded applications.
7. The "cloud" can be used on any operating system, since the programs are accessed through web browsers.
8. New cloud technologies make it possible to always and anywhere have access to documents, because the main thing is the presence of the Internet.
9. Good security and protection against information loss, since the sent data is automatically saved and copies are dropped to backup servers.

Disadvantages of cloud technologies

It has a "cloud" and a number of disadvantages that you should know and consider:

1. Access is not possible in the absence of the Internet, and if it is not, then it will be possible to work only with documents downloaded to the computer. It is worth noting that the Internet must be fast and of high quality.
2. The cloud service may be slower when transferring a large amount of information than in the case of an installed program.
3. Rarely is security at a bad level, but in most cases, the Cloud makes backups, so there is no need to worry.
4. Many are embarrassed that they have to pay for the provision of a number of services, but this is a business project on which people should earn.

Application of cloud technologies

There is a certain classification of cloud services, so there are such categories of "clouds":

1. public. This is an IT infrastructure that can be used by a large number of companies and services at once. Any company and individual can be a subscriber. Users of public cloud technologies do not have the ability to manage and maintain the "cloud", since only the owner of the service is engaged in this.
2. Private. Describing the types of cloud technologies, one should dwell on this secure IT infrastructure, controlled and operated in the interests of only one organization. It can be located at the premises of the customer or at an external operator.
3. hybrid. This type has the main advantages of both previous options. Such a "cloud" is in most cases used by organizations that have seasonal periods of activity, that is, when there is not enough internal IT infrastructure, then part of the capacity is transferred to cloud technologies.

Cloud technologies in education

Computers and the Internet have made their way into the education system, which can improve and facilitate the process of performing a number of tasks. Cloud technologies in the educational process can be used for the following purposes:

1. Organization of joint work of employees on important documents, for example, an annual plan or program. Everyone is responsible for their part of the document, and if necessary, all users will have the opportunity to leave comments and supplement information.
2. Shared project work, so the teacher can assign assignments to students, share responsibilities, and check reports with comments.
3. Cloud technologies can be used to create an electronic diary and transfer any written assignments. This is a great option for kids who are homeschooled or miss classes for whatever reason.

Cloud technologies in medicine

Recently, the "cloud" is actively being introduced into medicine, which raises it to a new level. New technologies offer huge potential for revolutionary changes, because it becomes much easier to maintain and organize medical records. The use of cloud technologies in medicine is important because they help to quickly determine the diagnosis and make a conclusion. At the moment, such a service is just beginning to be introduced, since there are no regulatory mechanisms for maintaining medical secrecy so far.

Cloud technologies in logistics

The cloud has excellent potential in transport and warehouse logistics. With the help of cloud technologies, it is possible to ensure the full interaction of all participants in the chain, that is, the sender, operators, transport company and recipient. All of them can communicate in real time, regardless of location. The use of cloud computing provides the following benefits:

• conduct open tenders for contractors;
• determine the most successful routes;
• control the supply;
• process and store all transportation data;
• improve the quality of order fulfillment.

Cloud technologies in the banking sector

The competition among banks is huge and not all are able to survive in times of crisis. These financial institutions are beginning to use innovative technologies to reduce costs. Cloud storage services are aimed at automating financial processes. As a result, there is an increase in the efficiency of the work of credit institutions by reducing the cost of reporting. It is important to note that since there is a threat of attackers infiltrating cloud storage, they do not store customer information.

Cloud technologies for business

Business people use the cloud for the following purposes:

1. A virtual server is rented, thanks to which the manager can fully control all hosted services, regardless of the provider.
2. It is easy to create a virtual contact center in the network, thanks to which you can save on renting a room and organizing workplaces. Work can begin two days after the submission of the application to the provider.
3. Cloud services for business are used to create a virtual office, that is, the workplace will not be tied to a specific computer. The "cloud" reproduces the internal network of the company, that is, it includes disks, folders and programs for planning.

Games via cloud service

In the 2000s, cloud streaming services began to appear, thanks to which users can play “heavy” games over the Internet without downloading or booting their computer. In America and China, this direction is already well developed. Microsoft recently made an official announcement that it will be developing a DeLorean system whereby a person will play through a cloud service, and the system will predict his actions before he presses the keys.

And again, hello, dear readers! :) Let's talk about cloud technologies .

Tobish, today another note will be entirely devoted to a very entertaining and promising technology (so to speak, the "gold mine" of the IT industry), hiding under a pseudonym - cloud technologies or in the common people - "cloud".

We will talk about the very concept of cloud computing, give a variety of examples of its implementation (at the level of solutions for ordinary users), namely, we will talk about the theory, then we will smoothly move on to practice and a little .. we will move in the clouds :-)

Thus, the purpose of our note, as always, is good (it cannot be otherwise) - to systematize the basic information related to this topic and sort everything out.

So, Earthlings, get ready, now we will talk about cloud technologies, which, every day, are getting closer and closer to us.

We flew..

Cloud technologies. About everything, little by little

In recent years, this topic has become one of the most popular in IT-sphere, a lot of articles have been written about it, an even greater number of conferences have been held, and how many solutions already exist on the market (and are used to the fullest by us in everyday life, sometimes even unconsciously), cannot be counted at all.

However, as always, there is one "but", namely, the majority of users still do not even know what kind of "know-how" cloud technologies are and why they gave up at all. Well, we will correct the situation and we will start, as expected, from theory.

Cloud computing ( cloud computing) is a distributed data processing technology in which computer resources and capacities are provided to the user as an Internet service. If you explain in an accessible language, then this is your, in a sense, working platform on the Internet, or rather on a remote server.

Let's look at an example to make sure that almost every one of us, one way or another, has already come across this solution.

Do you have e-mail ( e-mail)? Of course have. So, if you work with mail on some service site (for example,) that allows you to use this mail, then this is nothing more than a cloud service, which is part of such a thing as cloud technologies. Or, for example, image processing.

If you downsize, flip your photo to photoshop or another special program, then you have nothing to do with cloud technology - everything happens and is processed locally on your computer. But if, having loaded an image, for example, through, you process it on the other side, that is, in the browser, then this is the very "cloud".

More details about cloud technologies

Actually, the whole difference lies solely in the method of storing and processing data. If all operations take place on your computer (using its capacities), then this is not a "cloud", and if the process takes place on a server on the network, then this is exactly the trendy contraption that is commonly called "cloud technology".

In other words, cloud technologies are various hardware, software, methodologies and tools that are provided to the user as Internet services to achieve their goals, objectives, projects.

As practice shows, the terms "cloud technology" / "cloud service", with their generally accepted graphical representation, in the form of "clouds", only confuses users, in fact, their structure can be easily understood if presented in the form of the following pyramid.

The base of the pyramid "infrastructure" is a set of physical devices (servers, etc.), above it is built a "platform" - a set of services and the top - software available at the request of users.

Also, you should know that cloud computing is a certain basis vector obtained as a result of the synthesis of a number of technologies and approaches (in a wiser! :-)). To make it clear what I mean, I will give the following diagram:

I think that now it has become a little clearer, since the scheme is quite simple. However, speaking generally, cloud technologies are such a kind of mess that performs calculations by servers and other things without directly involving the resources of your computer.

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It may turn out that we will all return to computers that are close in power to, so to speak, the first and, in fact, will be just a screen with a microprocessor, and all calculations and capacities will be located and performed remotely, i.e. in somewhere there living servers, namely, in the cloud mentioned repeatedly.

Services provided by cloud systems

Everything about cloud computing(Further SS), usually called the word aaS. It is deciphered simply - " as a Service", i.e. "as a service", or "as a service".

Currently, cloud technologies and, in fact, their concept, involves the provision of the following types of services to its users:

• Storage-as-a-Service("storage as a service")
  This is perhaps the simplest of SS-services, which is disk space on demand. Each of us has ever encountered a situation where an ominous warning appeared on the monitor: " The logical disk is full to free up space, remove unnecessary programs or data". Service Storage-as-a-Service allows you to save data in external storage, in the "cloud". For you, it will look like an additional logical drive or folder. The service is basic for the rest, since it is part of almost every one of them. Other similar services can serve as an example.
• Database-as-a-Service("database as a service")
  Here it is rather more for admins, because this thing provides the ability to work with databases, as if DBMS has been installed locally. Moreover, in this case it is much easier to "share" projects between different performers, not to mention how much money you can save on and required for proper use DBMS in a large or even medium-sized organization.
• Information-as-a-Service("information as a service")
  It gives you the ability to remotely use any kind of information that can change every minute or even every second.
• Process-as-a-Service("process control as a service")
  Represents a remote resource that can link together multiple resources (such as services or data contained within the same "cloud" or other available "clouds") to create a single business process.
• Application-as-a-Service("application as a service")
  Also, it may be called Software-as-a-Service("Software as a Service"). It is positioned as "on-demand software" that is deployed on remote servers and each user can access it via the Internet, and all updates and licenses for this software are regulated by the provider of this service. Payment, in this case, is made for the actual use of the latter. An example is Google Docs, Google Calendar etc. online programs.
• Platform-as-a-Service("platform as a service")
  The user is provided with a computer platform with an installed operating system and some software.
• Integration-as-a-Service("integration as a service")
  This is an opportunity to receive a complete integration package from the "cloud", including software interfaces between applications and control of their algorithms. This includes well-known services and features of enterprise application centralization, optimization, and integration packages ( EAI), but provided as a "cloud" service.
• Security-as-a-Service("security as a service")
  This type of service enables users to quickly deploy products that allow the secure use of web technologies, electronic correspondence, and local networks, which allows users of this service to save on deploying and maintaining their own.
• Management/Governance-as-a-Service("administration and management as a service")
  Provides the ability to manage and set the operation parameters of one or many "cloud" services. These are mainly parameters such as topology, resource usage, virtualization.
• Infrastructure-as-a-Service("infrastructure as a service")
  The user is provided with a computer infrastructure, usually virtual platforms (computers) connected to a network, which he independently configures for his own purposes.
• Testing-as-a-Service("testing as a service")
  Provides the ability to test local or "cloud" systems using test software from the "cloud" (no hardware or software required in the enterprise).

For clarity, let's summarize all these services of the "cloud" architecture, in one scheme behind which cloud technologies are hidden (sorry, in English):

On which the classification of services is given, by type of service.

Now let's look at what cloud technologies are, so to speak, according to the form of ownership. Here, there are three categories:

• public
• Private
• Hybrid.

Briefly for each:

• public cloud IT infrastructure is used simultaneously by many companies and services. Users do not have the ability to manage and maintain this "cloud", and all responsibility for these issues rests with the owner of the resource. Any company and individual user can become a subscriber of the offered services.
  Examples are online services: Amazon EC2, Google Apps/Docs, Microsoft Office Web.
• private cloud is a secure IT infrastructure controlled and operated for the benefit of a single organization. An organization can manage the private cloud itself or outsource this task to an external contractor. The infrastructure can be hosted either on the premises of the customer or at an external operator (or partly at the customer and partly at the operator).
• hybrid cloud is an IT infrastructure that uses the best qualities of a public and private cloud in solving the task. Often this type is used when an organization has seasonal periods of activity, in other words, as soon as the internal IT infrastructure can not cope with current tasks, part of the capacity is transferred to the public "cloud" (for example, large amounts of statistical information), as well as to provide access to users to enterprise resources through the public cloud.

Confused? Nothing, we will soon analyze the examples and everything will fall into place;)

Cloud Computing Opportunities

Now consider the possibilities of cloud computing:

• Access to personal information from any computer connected to the Internet
• You can work with information from different devices (PCs, tablets, phones, etc.)
• It doesn't matter what operating system you prefer to work in - web services work in the browser of any operating system
• One and the same information, both you and others, can be viewed and edited simultaneously from different devices
• Many paid programs have become free (or cheaper) web applications.
• If something happens to your device (PC, tablet, phone), then you will not lose important information, since it is no longer stored in the device memory
• Always at hand fresh and updated information
• You always use the latest version of the software and do not need to keep track of updates
• You can combine your information with other users
• You can easily share information with loved ones or with people from anywhere in the world.

There are plenty of opportunities, however, there are also disadvantages (where without them), which should also be mentioned.

"Fly in the ointment" - disadvantages:

• The need for a permanent connection.
  To access the services of the "cloud" you need a permanent connection to the Internet
• Software and its "customization".
  There are restrictions on software that can be deployed on the "clouds" and provide it to the user. The user has limitations in the software used and sometimes does not have the ability to customize it for his own purposes
• Confidentiality.
  The confidentiality of data stored in public clouds is currently controversial, but in most cases, experts agree that it is not recommended to store the most valuable documents for a company on a public cloud, since there is currently no technology which would guarantee 100% data privacy
• Security.
  The "cloud" itself is a fairly reliable system, however, when an attacker penetrates it, he gains access to a huge data warehouse. Another disadvantage is the use of systems in which, as a hypervisor, the kernels of standard operating systems are used (for example, Windows), which allows the use of viruses and system vulnerabilities
• The high cost of equipment.
  To build your own cloud, you need to allocate significant material resources, which is not beneficial for newly created and small companies
• Further monetization of the resource.
  It is possible that companies will decide in the future to charge users for the services they provide.

As you can see, there are two sides of the coin. However, this does not harm the development of technology, and maybe even spurs it on.

Cloud technologies - a view from the user's side. Solution overview

We have come to perhaps the most interesting (and so beloved by many readers) part of the article - examples and, so to speak, practice. Here we will consider what solutions, services, programs already exist on the market and what you should pay attention to. Let's start with services:

• iCloud
  cloud service iCloud from company Apple(replaced Mobile Me), fully automatic and free (albeit with a few functional limitations). It stores your various content (mail, calendar, contacts, documents, music, videos and images, etc.) on servers, and then delivers it to all devices ( iPhone, iPad, iPod touch,MacandPC) using wireless technology Push.
• Google Play
  Fresh cloud service called Google Play from the "corporation of kindness", which is designed for users to place movies, music, applications and books on servers specially designed for storing digital information. Access to the service is provided directly from the browser, regardless of the OS, and therefore can be carried out both from a PC and from mobile devices based on Android. Each user has the ability to place and store up to 20 -ty thousand music records for free, as well as directly download to the server purchased in stores ( Android Market,Google Music and Google eBookstore) digital goods - movies, e-books, programs, music tracks, both purchased and rented.
• OnLive
  I think that everyone knows the service, since I already wrote about it. Provides the ability to play modern games even on the simplest and weakest computer. Technically, it looks like this: the game itself is located on a remote server and the graphics are processed there, which is sent to the computer to the user already in a “ready” form. Simply put, those calculations that are performed during a normal game on a computer, etc., are already performed on the server here, and your computer is used only as a monitor that receives the final picture. If you do not understand, then all this means that all problems with computer performance and the amount of free hard disk space are automatically removed, because even installation is not required. In addition, there is no need to pay quite a lot of money immediately for a product (game, etc.) that you will not necessarily like. In addition, it is no secret that most games do not want to be played again, so it turns out that the cost of several hours (or even several days) of pleasure is unreasonably high. Much more convenient would be the option in which you would pay only for the time that you play. Or - you would pay some small fixed amount monthly, which would allow you to play any of the available games without restrictions. This is what it offers OnLive.
• Xbox Live
  Another notorious gaming service that also provides rich Internet functionality and is related to cloud technologies. The essence of the service is that the owners of set-top boxes Xbox 360 and CPC on the base Windows Phone 7, can play computer games with each other and communicate, as well as buy add-ons and various multimedia content, in the online store. It turns out that the service creates a kind of virtual universe for gamers, the components of which are located not on end-user consoles, but in the cloud.

Thus, the last two services offer games as a service. And now imagine that we are not talking about games, but about software. That is, you do not pay for the product as such (for a box with a disk), but for the specific functions/opportunities that it provides you. Interesting? Here's to me :)

Small note

And since we, as users, are most interested in software (and not all sorts of platforms as a service), now we will consider the “software landscape” ( SaaS) clouds. In other words, let's give the most popular software solutions that, within the framework of the concept of cloud technologies, actually exist on the market now.

Actually, according to SaaS-concepts, as mentioned above, you do not pay at a time when buying a product, but as if renting it. Moreover, you use exactly those functions that you need (and, accordingly, pay for them). For example, once a year you need a certain program and you are not going to use it more often. So why buy a product that will lie idle?

And why waste space on it (in the apartment, if it's a box with a disk, or on a hard drive, if it's a file)? That's right, why not, because there is an alternative - a free online service (providing the full functionality of this program).

Working with documents in the cloud

It was along this path that two headliners of the IT industry (and also competitors) went - Google and Microsoft. Both companies have released sets of services that allow you to work with documents.

From the side Google- it's theirs Google Docs(now Google Drive):

Free online office that includes a word processor, spreadsheet and "stray" for creating presentations, as well as an Internet service cloud file storage with file sharing features.

This is web-based software, that is, a program that runs within a web browser without installation on the user's computer, i.e. a kind of alternative version of any Word, excel and so on without the need to purchase and all that. Documents and tables created by the user are stored on a special server Google or can be exported to a file.

This is one of the key advantages of the program, since the entered data can be accessed from any computer connected to the Internet (while access is password protected).

From the side Microsoft- it's theirs Microsoft Office Web Apps:

Applications Microsoft Office Web Apps, allow you to use the possibilities Microsoft Office, through a web browser and work with documents (and not only view them, but also edit them) directly on the website where they are stored.

Thus, documents look exactly the same in the browser as in programs. office, i.e. complete, so to speak, unification.

It is also worth noting that both services are closely interconnected with mail ( gmail in the first case and hot mail in the second) and file storages, tobish, to use Google Docs, just create a free Google account and you will receive a set of programs for working with texts, spreadsheets, etc., right in your browser. For many, Google Docs completely replaced, as already mentioned above, paid MS Ooffice.

To summarize (for these two services), we can say that the user is transferred from his usual offline environment to online.
We go further.

Cloud technologies and data storage

Cloud file storage is no less popular. The most famous repository is considered..

• dropbox.
  You may have several computers, but with the help of this cloud storage you can make a shared folder with files for all your PCs and even smartphones. The most interesting thing is that you don’t have to do any special actions here, because the operating system itself will perceive the shared folder, like all other folders on the hard drive, and the dropbox will simply take care of synchronization. The service allows you to store up to 2 GB of data. The main emphasis in it is on synchronization and information exchange. dropbox keeps a history of downloads so that after deleting files from the server it is possible to restore data, plus a history of file changes is kept, which is available for the period of the last 30 days.
• Windows Live Sky Drive.
  Service skydrive allows you to save up to 7 GB (and you can exchange files up to 100 MB) of information organized using standard folders. For images, a preview mode is provided, as well as the ability to show them as slides. In addition to the fact that the service is integrated with Microsoft Office, it also supports the new operating system (more specifically, the client skydrive built into applications Metro and allows you to upload documents and photos to the "cloud" in one click, open files from remote storage).
• And of course Google Drive. There will be a separate article about it.

By the way, not only all sorts of offices and file storages use cloud technologies. For example, in the camp of the fight against digital "evil spirits" they also relied on cloud computing. And here is the result - free antivirus Panda Cloud Antivirus.

It is based on the innovative technology of "collective intelligence" (which automatically detects new threats in a minimum period of time) and allows you to minimize the impact of protection on computer system resources, using the computing power of cloud technologies for most operations: analysis, blocking and attempts to remove malware.

Antivirus servers use information received from millions of users of antivirus products Panda around the world to automatically detect and classify new types of malware that appear every day.

In a nutshell, something like this, although there are still a lot of services that could be told about, but then you have to write a volume of War and Peace :)
So let's get to the bottom line.

Cloud technologies. Cloudy or clear?

To put it quite simply, the cloud is an opportunity to always have guaranteed and secure access to all your personal information, as well as avoiding the need to keep a lot of extra things in your pocket (all flash drives, disks, wires, and everything else) or buy a new computer/components / programs / games, etc. There is no doubt that at the moment, cloud technologies are one of the most popular and interesting topics in IT-sphere and more and more interesting solutions appearing in the world are connected precisely with them.

Of course, it is still difficult for an ordinary user to fully appreciate (and reveal) their full potential, but what it is is visible to the naked eye.

Thus, without a doubt, the future of cloud technologies seems to be very bright, because such giants ( Microsoft, Apple and Google) they just don’t do anything for sure and it’s completely clear that if they have already entered this unexplored territory, they are clearly not going to leave it, because two years ago the concept "cloud" seemed just a beautiful idea and a bold experiment, and today even those people who are not connected with software development, web technologies and other highly specialized things (the above-mentioned Xbox Live, Windows Live, OnLive, Google Docs are prime examples of this).

Afterword

Something like that. I hope that the information was interesting, useful and exciting for you. Stay with the project - you are always welcome here;)

As usual, if you have questions, additions, and other differences, then comments are at your service.

PS: For the existence of this article, thanks to a member of the team 25 FRAME