Young-Min Lee (Jason)
November 12, 2013
Cloud Computing
Cloud computing is an emerging technological trend in which computers deliver hosted
services over the Internet. There are several different types of cloud computing including:
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Software as a Service
(SaaS), and Network as a Service (Naas). IaaS is the most basic cloud-service model,
which provides the user with virtual infrastructure. In the PaaS model, the cloud providers
deliver the users development services where they can create applications. SaaS provides
the user with access to already-developed applications that are running in the cloud.
Finally, NaaS provides the user with network connectivity services such as VPN. When
cloud computing first started appearing, critics dismissed it as a tech fad. However, cloud
computing managed to become widespread among many corporations and end users. The
huge growth suggests that there are many advantages of cloud computing. Several
advantages of cloud computing include the cost savings, backup & recovery, and
scalability and device diversity. These advantages overwhelmingly outweigh the
insignificant disadvantages.
One of the largest costs affiliated with an IT department of a company are the hardware
costs. There is the initial cost of purchasing and setting up the hardware. Then there is also
the maintenance and replacement costs if the hardware starts malfunctioning or becomes
obsolete. Software and firmware updates for the hardware also creates an additional
expenditure. This creates a large overhead cost for the company. This is where cloud
computing comes in. Cloud computing in general is available at much cheaper rates than
