Cloud Computing: Advantages, Features, Uses, Jobs & Salary

What is cloud computing in simple words?

In the simplest terms, cloud computing means storing and accessing data and programs over the internet instead of your computer’s hard drive. The PCMag Encyclopedia defines it succinctly as “hardware and software services from a provider on the internet.

Cloud computing Meaning in other words: Cloud computing is on-demand access, via the internet, to computing resources—applications, servers (physical servers and virtual servers), data storage, development tools, networking capabilities, and more—hosted at a remote data center managed by a cloud services provider (or CSP). The CSP makes these resources available for a monthly subscription fee or bills them according to usage.

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Who invented cloud computing?

Joseph Carl Robnett Licklider is credited with inventing cloud computing in the 1960s through his work on ARPANET, which connected people and data from everywhere at any time. CompuServe began offering its consumer users a modest amount of disc space in 1983, which they could use to store any files they wanted to upload.

Advantages of cloud computing

Advantages of cloud Computing: Cloud computing, when compared to traditional on-premises IT and depending on the cloud services you choose, can help you perform the following:

Reduced IT expenditures:   

Cloud computing allows you to offload part or all of the costs and work associated with purchasing, installing, configuring, and administering your own on-premises equipment.

Improve time-to-value and agility:

Instead of waiting weeks or months for IT to reply to a request, acquire and set up supporting hardware, and install software, your company can start using corporate apps in minutes using the cloud. You can also give some people, like developers and data scientists, access to software and support infrastructure via the cloud.

Scale more easily and cost-effectively: 

Cloud delivers elasticity, allowing you to scale capacity up and down in response to traffic spikes and dips rather than acquiring excess capacity that sits unused during slack periods. You can also use the worldwide network of your cloud provider to bring your applications closer to users all around the world.

Speed: 

Because most cloud computing services are self-service and on-demand, even large amounts of computing resources may be deployed in minutes, usually with only a few mouse clicks, allowing enterprises a great deal of flexibility and relieving capacity planning strain.

Security: 

Many cloud providers provide a comprehensive set of rules, technologies, and controls to help you improve your entire security posture and safeguard your data, apps, and infrastructure from threats.

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Types of cloud services:

• IaaS, 
• PaaS,
• serverless and 
• SaaS

Infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), serverless computing, and software as a service are the four main types of cloud computing services (SaaS). Because they are built on top of one another, they are frequently referred to as the cloud computing stack. Understanding what they are and how they differ makes it easier to achieve your company objectives.

Infrastructure as a service (IaaS)

The most basic category of cloud computing services. With IaaS, you rent IT infrastructure—servers and virtual machines (VMs), storage, networks, operating systems—from a cloud provider on a pay-as-you-go basis.

As a platform as a service (PaaS)

Cloud computing services that provide an on-demand environment for designing, testing, delivering, and maintaining software applications are referred to as platform as a service. PaaS was created to make it easier for developers to construct web or mobile apps rapidly without having to worry about setting up or managing the underlying infrastructure of servers, storage, network, and databases.

Computing without a server

Serverless computing, which overlaps with PaaS, focuses on developing app functionality without having to constantly manage the servers and infrastructure required to do it. Setup, capacity planning, and server management are all handled by the cloud provider. Serverless architectures are scalable and event-driven, meaning they only use resources when a specified function or trigger occurs.

Software as a service (SaaS)

Software as a service is a method for delivering software applications over the Internet, on-demand and typically on a subscription basis. With SaaS, cloud providers host and manage the software application and underlying infrastructure and handle any maintenance, like software upgrades and security patching. Users connect to the application over the Internet, usually with a web browser on their phone, tablet or PC.

Features of Cloud Computing

Following are the characteristics of Cloud Computing:

1. Resources Pooling

It signifies that the Cloud provider used a multi-tenant architecture to pull computing resources to provide services to numerous clients. Various physical and virtual resources are assigned and reassigned based on the needs of the consumer.

The customer has little control or information about where the offered resources are located but can specify location at a higher level of abstraction.

2. Self-Service on Demand

It is one of the most significant and valuable components of Cloud Computing since it allows the user to keep track of the server’s uptime, capabilities, and network storage allocation. This function also allows the user to keep track of the computer’s capabilities.

3. Simple to Maintain

The servers are simple to operate, and downtime is minimal, if not non-existent in some circumstances. Every time a new version of Cloud Computing is released, it improves progressively.

The updates are more compatible with the devices and perform faster than older ones along with the bugs which are fixed.

4. Access to a large network

With the use of a device and an internet connection, the user can view the cloud’s data or upload data to the cloud from anywhere. These capabilities are available throughout the network and can be accessed over the internet.

5. Availability

The Cloud’s capabilities can be tailored to the needs of the user and greatly expanded. It evaluates storage utilisation and, if necessary, allows the user to purchase more Cloud storage for a modest fee.

6. The Autonomous System

At some degree of service, cloud computing automatically analyses the data required and provides metering. We can track, manage, and report on usage. It will provide both the host and the client with transparency.

7. Cost-effective

It is a one-time expenditure because the firm (host) must purchase storage and just a portion of it can be shared among several companies, saving the host money on a monthly or annual basis. Only a small portion of the money is spent on basic maintenance and a few other little expenses.

8. Safety and security

One of the most appealing aspects of cloud computing is its security. It takes a snapshot of the data stored so that it doesn’t get lost if one of the servers is broken.

The data is saved on storage devices that cannot be hacked or accessed by unauthorised individuals. The storage service is efficient and trustworthy.

Uses of Cloud Computing

Below are some common uses of cloud computing that should prompt you to consider how this technology can assist your business.

1. Data archiving and backups

We now live in a society where cybercrime has become the norm. There isn’t a day that goes by without big data breaches, which can be disastrous for a number of firms.

Traditional data backup solutions have proven to be effective in storing data for a long period. Despite this, they are susceptible to infections, and because of their portable nature, they can become lost, posing a threat to modern organizations.

These issues can be addressed using cloud-based backup and archiving. It’s simple to set up and ensures optimum data security. You can backup or archive your sensitive files to cloud-based storage systems using this method. This gives you peace of mind that your data will be safe even if your live data is compromised.

2. File storage

There are numerous alternatives for storing and accessing your data. There’s your laptop’s hard drive, an external hard drive you use for data backup and transfer, network file shares, USB devices, and more.

What makes cloud storage different from other storage options?

The fact that files can be viewed and modified with ease is the fundamental reason why cloud storage is desirable. You may access your files from any device, anywhere, as long as you have an internet connection.

Cloud storage comes in a variety of forms, including block, file, and object storage. These are suitable for a variety of applications, including shared filesystems, block-based volumes, and backup and archiving systems.

3. Big Data Analytics

If you don’t capture big data now, your company will be at a tremendous disadvantage. This information could include information on your clients, market trends, sales performance, and so on.

Big data is required by businesses of all sizes for a variety of reasons. Some people collect it in order to identify new business prospects, while others do so in order to solve complex challenges.

Big data collection and analysis, on the other hand, isn’t easy. It necessitates the employment of massive computing resources, which come at a high cost.

If you buy the resources you’ll need for cloud computing, you could have to cut budgets for other important services like marketing. If you use cloud computing, you won’t have to worry about this.

The main advantage of cloud computing is that it has a pay-as-you-go pricing model.

4. Communication

People can use cloud computing to access cloud-based communication tools like calendars and emails. Furthermore, cloud-based messaging and calling apps like WhatsApp and Skype are all built on cloud infrastructure.

Not just on your smartphone, but also in the cloud, are the messages and files you send and receive. This allows you to access them via the internet from any device and from anywhere on the planet.

5. Disaster recovery

Do you know how much it would cost you if you didn’t have a business continuity plan in place? According to research, over 75% of businesses that suffer a crisis and do not have a disaster recovery plan in place fail within three years of the incident.

Building a disaster recovery site and evaluating your business continuity strategy has traditionally been a costly and time-consuming process.

But that doesn’t have to be the case!

You can create a disaster recovery system in the cloud using cloud computing. In this strategy, you make a copy of your production site and replicate data and configuration settings on a regular basis.

In the event of a disaster at your production site, launching your applications and data services in the cloud is quick and painless, allowing you to get your business back up and running in no time.

6. Software development & testing

If you’ve ever produced an in-house application or software, you know how time-consuming, costly, and expensive the process can be. It necessitates the installation and deployment of sophisticated gear and software, as well as ongoing training for all personnel involved.

This simply means that even a basic project can take months to execute, putting you at a competitive disadvantage in today’s market.

Many solutions for continuous integration and continuous delivery are available through cloud computing companies, making development and testing faster, easier, and less expensive.

Check out Digital Cloud Training’s FREE AWS cheat sheets if you want to learn everything there is to know about AWS’ Developer Tools.

With these cloud development tools, you may gain an advantage by reducing the time it takes to deliver software and, as a result, obtain a competitive advantage.

7. Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) and Platform as a service (PaaS)

Physical servers and virtualization infrastructure to host your virtual machines necessitate significant IT infrastructure acquisition and management costs.

Businesses are turning to cloud computing to save money on this since its pay-per-use pricing plan achieves the ideal balance of quality and affordability. You can get rid of your VMware licensing charges as well as all of the hardware you use to host your virtual servers using Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS).

This is because IaaS allows you to create virtual machines in the cloud, commonly known as “instances,” without having to maintain any of the underlying hardware or hosting software.

8. Social Networking

Social networking is maybe one of the most underappreciated uses of cloud computing. The Software as a Service (SaaS) cloud computing approach is exemplified by platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Social media platforms are designed to assist you in finding individuals you already know – or connecting with people you don’t. They also provide you with a variety of options for exchanging data and information, including tweets, images, instant messaging, and posts.

9. Business process

You’ve already incorporated cloud computing into your management approach if you use company management software like Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) or Customer Relationship Management (CRM).

Software as a Service (SaaS), which mainly relies on cloud computing paradigms, is used to deploy such enterprise-level applications. They make it easy to maintain, secure, and manage your company’s critical resources. Additionally, they give service providers and their customers with maximum efficiency.

What is Virtualization?

In layman’s words, Virtualization enables users to disjoint operating systems from the underlying hardware, i.e, users can run multiple operating systems such as Windows, and Linux on a single physical machine at the same time. Such operating systems are known as guest Oses (operating systems).

What is virtualization in cloud computing

In the context of cloud computing, virtualization is a technique that makes a virtual ecosystem of storage devices and the server OS. 

 In that case, virtualization enables users to use various machines that share one particular physical instance of any resource.

Cloud virtualization transforms the traditional computing methods such that workload management is more efficient, economic and scalable. 

Virtualization in Cloud Computing is rapidly becoming unified, and advances in traditional computing, such as virtualization, are assisting in the sharing of programs across a network thread of multiple organizations and active users.

Because cloud computing is viewed as a service or application that aids a virtualized ecosystem that can be private or public, resources can be scaled up, decreasing the need for a physical device.

The hypervisor in cloud computing

A hypervisor is a process or a function to help admins isolate operating system and applications from the underlying hardware. Cloud computing uses it the most as it allows multiple guest operating systems (also known as virtual machines or VMs) to run simultaneously on a single host system. Administrators can use the resources efficiently by dividing computing resources (RAM, CPU, etc.) between multiple VMs.

What is multitenancy? multitenancy in cloud computing

In cloud computing, multitenancy means that multiple customers of a cloud vendor are using the same computing resources. Despite the fact that they share resources, cloud customers aren’t aware of each other, and their data is kept totally separate. Multitenancy is a crucial component of cloud computing; without it, cloud services would be far less practical. Multitenant architecture is a feature in many types of public cloud computing, including IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, containers, and serverless computing.

What is cloud computing in Google?

Google Cloud Platform is a suite of public cloud computing services offered by Google. The platform includes a range of hosted services for computing, storage, and application development that run on Google hardware.

Companies for cloud computing

Here is a list of my top 10 cloud service companies/providers: 

1. Amazon Web Services (AWS)
2. Microsoft Azure
3. Google Cloud
4. Alibaba Cloud
5. IBM Cloud
6. Oracle
7. Salesforce
8. SAP
9. Rackspace Cloud
10. VMWare

Salary for Cloud Computing Engineer

Data source tooltip for average base salary. Data source tooltip for average base salary.

As per 1.9k salaries reported, updated at November 22, 2021, the average salary for a cloud engineer is $117,723 per year in the United States and $10,000 cash bonus per year.

The Future Is Bright in the Cloud (Career in Cloud Computing)

Businesses are in desperate need of cloud workers right now, thus cloud computing is a good career choice. Every year, firms lose approximately $250 million due to a lack of cloud expertise. And the chasm is widening. According to one survey, 46% of businesses believe the cloud skills gap will widen, owing to the fact that 96% of workers lack advanced abilities.

There are plenty of work opportunities available. In 2016 and 2017, cloud and distributed computing were at the top of one list of sought-after skills. Cloud computing is thought to be the second most important driver of technological skills need. On any given day, Dice has over 11,000 job posts that mention cloud computing, while Indeed.com has 25,000 job listings related to AWS.

It’s the employees that are in short supply.

Those that are qualified (and hired) earn a lot of money. According to one survey, networking and storage specialists’ pay grew faster than any other IT job—but only for those who were familiar with the cloud. Cloud engineers and architects earn well over $100,000 per year on average, according to BusinessInsider, which lists 12 cloud computing job abilities worth more than $113,000 per year. Still not persuaded? Then read this Forbes article, which claims that cloud computing abilities will pay you more than any other IT position.

Jobs on cloud computing

The need for qualified candidates is one reason it’s easy to get started in cloud computing, and the variety of roles is another. The most common jobs you’ll see listed include:

Cloud administrator

Cloud application developer

Cloud Architect 

Cloud engineer

Cloud integration specialist

Cloud security manager 

Article submitted by
Reena K. skillshouter Team