What are the Roots of Cloud Computing? (2023)

There are four main roots of cloud computing: internet technologies, distributed computing, hardware, and system management. These roots help computers to extend their capacities and make them more powerful.

Cloud computing provides 3 types of services: Software as a service, IaaS – Infrastructure as a Service, and PaaS – Platform as a Service.

There are also four types of cloud available on the base of a cloud platform: free, public, hybrid, and platform.

Cloud computing technology is significantly advanced and contributes to the business to the next level.

In this article, we will see what cloud computing is and the roots of cloud computing to determine the potential of the technology.

What is Cloud Computing?

Cloud computing consists of multiple servers that host web services and data storage. This technology allows companies to eliminate the need for expensive and powerful computers.

The company’s information and data can be stored at low-cost servers, and workers can easily access that data via a common network.

In the traditional system, the company owns and maintains physical hardware, which costs much more, while cloud computing delivers a virtual platform.

In a virtual platform, each server hosts applications, and data are powered by a separate provider. Hence, you have to pay them for the services.

The growth of cloud computing has been tremendous with the advances in internet technologies. However, it is still a relatively new concept for lower capitalization companies.

Besides that, most companies are switching to cloud computing as it provides flexibility, accuracy, speed, and lower cost.

Cloud computing has many applications, like infrastructure management, application execution, and data access management.

In addition, central management of virtual systems, business intelligence tools, desktop services, real-time processing, and rich content delivery.

To understand cloud computing roots of cloud computing, there are mainly four roots of cloud computing,

1. Internet Technologies
2. Distributed computing
3. Hardware
4. System management

We will see each root in detail.

✅ Also Read: Virtualization in Cloud Computing

1️⃣ First Root: Internet Technologies

The first root is Internet Technologies from the roots of cloud computing which contains service-oriented architecture (SOA), web 2.0, and web services.

Internet technologies are widely accessible to the public. People can access the content and run applications that depend on the network connection.

Cloud computing relies on the network, centralized storage, and bandwidth. However, the internet isn’t just a network – it’s also very complex and requires centralized management.

Hence, a person can host any website anywhere in the world. In addition, because of the network servers, anyone can create many different websites.

Service-oriented Architecture, or SOA, is a self-contained module specially designed for business functionalities.

It is provided for business handling, event logging, and authentication services, which save lots of paperwork and time.

Web Services like XML and HTTP provide web delivery services using common mechanisms. It is a universal concept of web service all over the world.

WEB 2.0 Services are more convenient for the users, as they do not have to learn more about coding and concepts to work with it.

Information Technology companies basically provide this kind of service in which people can use the services on the common platform.

Predefined blocks or templates make their work easy, and they can work together in the centralized cloud computing system.

Some examples of WEB 2.0 services are host services like Google Maps, microblogging sites like Twitter, and social networking sites like Facebook.

However, all cloud computing applications suffer from the inherent unreliability of the Internet. This is because the Internet is a shared public resource subject to various problems, including congestion, outages, and security threats.

2️⃣ Second Root: Distributed Computing

The second root is Distributed Computing from the roots of cloud computing which contains grids, utility computing, and cluster.

To understand the second root, for example, a computer is a general store and documents in the form of files.

Each document stored in the computer has a specific location, either on the local hard disk or it is stored over the internet.

Now, when someone visits your website over the internet, they browse through the files on the browser without downloading them.

This means users can access the files at the specific location after processing and send that files back to the server.

Thus, it is known as distributed computing of the cloud. It is distributed in a manner so people can access it anywhere in the world.

With the help of this root, all the related resources like memory space, processor speed, and hard drive space are utilized in the best possible manner.

A company using this technology will never face a problem and will always stay in competition with other companies.

✅ Also Read: What is Digital Information Technology?

3️⃣ Third Root: Hardware

The third root is Hardware from the roots of cloud computing which contains multi-core chips and virtualization.

When we talk about Hardware for cloud computing, it is usually virtual, and people do not need to buy it.

Generally, computers require hardware such as CPU, RAM, ROM, and Motherboard to process, store, analyze, and manage the data.

There are no hardware devices or components in Cloud Computing because the applications are managed via the internet.

If you are using a large amount of data, it becomes very difficult for your computer to manage the constant increase in data.

On the other hand, the cloud stores data on its own computers rather than having the computer that holds the data physically.

In cloud computing, virtualization allows users to use resources from multiple virtual machines. It makes it easier and cheaper for customers to use cloud services.

Moreover, In the Service Level Agreement (SLA) based cloud computing model, each customer gets their own virtual machine called Virtual Private Cloud (VPC)

In short, a single cloud computing platform provides all the requirements of hardware, software, and operating system.

4️⃣ Fourth Root: System Management

The fourth root of cloud computing (System Management) contains data centre automation and autonomic computing.

System management handles the operations to improve the productivity and efficiency of the system.

To achieve this, management ensures all employees have easy access to all the necessary information.

Employees can change configurations, obtain/resend information, and perform other related functions from any location.

This makes it possible for the system admin to instantly respond to any user demand. Moreover, the admin can restrict or deny access to different users.

In an autonomic system, admin work becomes easier as the system is autonomic or self-managing. Additionally, data analysis and monitoring are handled by the sensors.

Based on that data, the system responses perform various tasks such as optimization, adaptation, configuration, and protection.

Hence, human involvement is less at this root, and the computing system handles most of the operations.

Difference Between Roots of Cloud Computing

The most fundamental difference between utilities and clouds lies in storage, bandwidth, and power availability.

In a utility system, these are provided through the utility company, whereas in a cloud environment, this is provided through the provider you work with.

For example, you may use a file-sharing service to upload your photos, documents, or files to a remote server.

But in order for this to work, you would need a host of physical storage devices to hold all of this data, along with power and access to the Internet.

In addition, the physical components necessary to provide this file-sharing service and access to the Internet would be provided by a third-party service provider data centre.

There is a number of different internet technologies that can make up the fundamental infrastructure of a cloud.

Despite the roots of cloud computing being connected to each other, they make a big difference depending on the service provider.

For instance, if an Internet Service Provider has low-speed internet, you might have difficulty transferring data regardless of providing better hardware infrastructure.

Conclusion

To sum up, the cloud is a collection of these four roots running separately on a remote server. The reason why a lot of organizations are now moving towards this technology is that it has the ability to manage a large amount of hardware, memory, and other resources on a per-instance basis. The potential of this technology is considerably high as it increases the overall efficiency, security, reliability, and flexibility of businesses.

FAQ about Roots of Cloud Computing