Cloud computing can be seen as the on-demand delivery of IT resources, such as computing power, storage, and data processing over the internet. (formerly known as the cloud)

Cloud computing has a major benefit for businesses as they can gain access to resources without the need of investing large upfront cash into hardware and software as well as the upkeep of the afore mentioned.

As it stands there are three types of cloud computing that currently exist:

Public Cloud:

In this instance of the cloud, computing services are offered by third-party providers over the public side of the internet.

The added benefit is that this makes them available to anyone with an internet connection who wants to use or purchase the resources being offered.

The drawback however is that the use of the public side of the internet as a connection path raises security concerns and some quality-of-service concerns.

Private Cloud:

In this instance of the cloud, companies would develop their own cloud services in their personal privately managed data centers.

This cloud computing model offers more security and improved quality of service.

Hybrid Cloud:

In this instance of the cloud, companies would as the name suggest implement both public and private cloud solutions based on their needs and concerns.

Cloud Service Criteria:

For IT services offered by the cloud to be deemed cloud technology they need to meet some vital criteria:

• The usage of these services can be requested on-demand from the client through the usage of an API.
• Services should offer dynamic scaling.
• Services should be dependent on the pooling of resources in the data center.
• Services should provide a wide range of network access methods.
• The usage of the services can be measured with ease.

Popular Cloud Service models:

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS):

In this cloud service model the infrastructure components needed for cloud computing such as the hardware, software, and storage is provided to the client. One of the providers of this service is Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Platform as a Service (PaaS): In this cloud service model virtual machines and development tools are provided to the customer to enable them to develop their software applications in a test environment. A popular example of PaaS would include AWS Elastic Beanstalk.

X as a Service (XaaS): In this cloud service model anything that is an aspect of IT is delivered through the cloud model.