Teapot about cloud technologies. Cloud technologies. Basic concepts and types of cloud services

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

In order to better imagine what cloud computing is, we can give a simple example: previously, to access email, a user resorted to certain software (messengers and programs) installed on his PC, but now he simply goes to the website of the company whose services Email he likes, 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 remote computing power to the client.

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 software— provider applications running on cloud infrastructure.

Platform as a service (PaaS, Platform as a Service). The consumer is provided with the means to deploy consumer-created or purchased applications on the cloud infrastructure, developed using the provider's 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 underlying computing resources on which the consumer can deploy and execute arbitrary software, including operating systems and applications.

Benefits of cloud services

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

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

Availability. Anyone with a computer, tablet, or any mobile device connected to the Internet. The following advantage follows from this.

Mobility. The user is not permanently tied to one workplace. Managers can receive reports from anywhere in the world, and managers can monitor production.

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

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

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

High technology. Large computing power that is placed at the user's disposal, which can be used for storing, analyzing and processing data.

Reliability. Some experts argue that the reliability provided by modern cloud computing, 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, but adds that the company protects the environment by using its cloud computing, explaining that Apps services run on data centers. Google data, characterized by ultra-low power consumption, so the carbon intensity and energy costs of their use will be significantly lower when using local servers.

How much does all this cost?

The cost of Google Apps for business, according to the company, is $5 per user per month, with free space on cloud drive 5 GB (if desired, you can purchase another 20 GB to 16 TB at prices ranging from $4 to $1430 per month, respectively).

The user can also purchase Google Apps with Safe for $10 per month, which includes the standard package of services plus archiving of important business data, data collection for forensic purposes, search and export of any corporate data. Providing domains is available at an additional cost. It is worth noting that a user is considered to have one email account.

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

“Smart” analysis, role-based interface and high mobility also stand out.

There are several options for purchasing Office 365: Office Professional Plus 2010 tariff - 555 rubles. per month per user. Subsequent tariffs cost 250, 300, 525 and 750 rubles. per month for each user, respectively. By the way, you can try Office 365 for free.

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

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: 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 and even individual groups of data that he has not used.

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

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Introduction

1. History of the development of computer science

2. Differences between services

3. Types of clouds

4. Levels cloud services

5. Benefits of cloud computing

6. Disadvantages of cloud computing

7. The most popular products from the cloud technology series

8. The future of the Cloud market

9. Six reasons for the slow growth of clouds in Russia

Conclusion

Bibliography

Introduction

computer virtual software provider

Cloud technologies in fashion today. The idea of cloud computing dates back to 1960, when John McCarthy suggested that one day computer computing would be done using “public utilities.” It is believed that the ideology of cloud computing has gained popularity since 2007 due to the rapid development of communication channels and the rapidly growing needs of users.

Over the past ten years, the topic of cloud technologies has become widespread not only among IT specialists, but also in business. In the Russian market, cloud services have begun to occupy one of the leading roles; not only large players, but also representatives of small and medium-sized businesses are looking at them. Today, the Russian cloud technology market amounts to billions of rubles. All a large number of Russian banks are not only discussing the prospects of these technologies, but are also actively implementing them into their business processes. Such large players in the banking business as Sberbank of Russia OJSC, Foreign Trade Bank OJSC, Alfa-Bank OJSC are actively investing in cloud technologies. The development of cloud technologies in the Russian market has its own specifics, associated not only with problems in legislation, but also with imperfect Internet access technologies, hardware and software, as well as limitations in financial capabilities. The main goal of my work is to see how cloud technologies are developing in Russia.

To achieve this goal, I set myself the following tasks:

Define cloud;

Consider existing types of clouds;

Consider the situation in Russia.

1. History of origincomputer science

Alan Matheson Turing (1912 - 1954) - English mathematician, logician, cryptographer, who had a significant influence on the development of computer science. He is considered the founder of computer science, laying its mathematical foundations in the 1936 article “On Computable Numbers.” The abstract computing “Turing Machine” he proposed in 1936 made it possible to formalize the concept of an algorithm and is still used in many theoretical and practical studies.

The Apple logo is a tribute to Turing.

company Apple Steve Jobs founded it in 1976 with Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. He left the company in May 1985 due to a disagreement with senior management, but returned in late 1996 to become chief executive officer in 2000.

Thanks to him, the world saw such products as Apple II, Macintosh, MacBook (Air), iMac, operating Mac system OS X and many other wonderful inventions.

It was he who told developers about the potential of cloud services in 1997, which have only now begun to enter our lives. On one of Apple presentations Steve Jobs, answering numerous questions, said the following phrase: “carrying out research, it turned out that there are tremendous opportunities to improve the network space in which we live, to make it much more efficient and interesting. And we know how to do it."

We live in an era of innovation, advanced technology, revolutionary interfaces and absolutely amazing electronic gadgets. But data transfer still occurs over wires, although there are already technologies that allow you to forget about USB and other data transfer interfaces, as “Cloud” technologies are becoming more and more common to the masses.

Cloud technologies, in other words, are electronic storage of your data on the Internet, which allows you to store (strange as it may seem), edit, and also share interesting files and documents with your friends and colleagues. Such computer giants as:

Google, who created and are promoting their product called Goole Docs to the masses. This service is probably the most large-scale and convenient, and also has a number of advantages in the collective design of a particular document.

2 . Differences between services

As a rule, the term “cloud computing” used today is applicable to any services that are provided via the Internet. These Internet services, also known as "cloud services", can be divided into three main categories:

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS);

Platform as a Service (PaaS);

Software as a service (SaaS).

These are the three pillars on which the understanding of the operating principles of clouds is built, essentially “replacing” for users their own information infrastructure, or a specific hardware-software platform, or software. The English term cloud computing itself was first used back in 1993 by Eric Schmidt (at that time chief technologist and board member of Sun Microsystems) to refer to services that remotely support various data and applications hosted on remote servers. Why cloud or cloud? The graphic prototype of the term owes its appearance to diagrams and other illustrations in the form of clouds, with the help of which it is customary to depict the Internet.

Today, a cloud service includes three main characteristics that distinguish it from a regular service:

"Resources on demand" mode;

Elasticity;

Independence from infrastructure controls.

To demonstrate the difference between regular and cloud services, you can take the services provided by the hosting provider. With the traditional (usual) approach, the provider receives a fixed remuneration on a monthly basis for the use of its computing resources (CPU, RAM, HDD, etc.).

It does not matter whether the client used the resources allocated to him in full throughout the entire month or only for a few days, and the rest of the time the computing resources were idle. When providing a cloud service, the pay-per-use payment type is used.

Typically, the unit of work time is a minute or an hour of resource use. When assessing data volumes, the unit of measurement is the Megabyte of stored information.

In this case, the user pays exactly the amount of resources that he actually used for a certain time. In addition, the cloud infrastructure provides the user with the opportunity, if necessary, to “raise” or “lower” the maximum limits of allocated resources, thereby taking advantage of the elasticity of the service provided. The user of cloud services does not need to worry about the infrastructure that ensures the functionality of the services provided to him. All tasks for configuration, troubleshooting, infrastructure expansion, etc. are taken over by the service provider.

3 . Typesclouds

Clouds can be public or private. Public cloud services can be used by anyone. Currently, Amazon Web Services is the most famous and largest provider providing services in the public cloud. The main difference between private clouds and public clouds is the provision of services from the cloud in an infrastructure closed from public access to a limited number of users. There is another definition of “virtual private cloud”, which is when the provider uses the public cloud infrastructure to organize a private cloud. With this organizational structure, part of the client’s data is stored and processed using the resources of its own infrastructure, and part of it using the resources of an external provider. An example of a virtual private cloud is Amazon's service called Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC).

4 . Cloud service levels

InfrastructureHowservice (IaaS)

Infrastructure for rent. The user is provided with a “clean” instance of a virtual server with a unique IP address or set of addresses and part of the data storage system. To manage the parameters, start, stop of this instance, the provider provides the user with a program interface (API).

Platform likeservice (PaaS)

PaaS can be thought of as ready to go virtual platform, consisting of one or more virtual servers with installed operating systems and specialized applications. Most cloud providers offer the user a choice of a variety of ready-to-use cloud environments.

SoftwareHowservice (SaaS)

The SaaS concept provides the ability to use software as a service and do it remotely via the Internet. This approach allows you not to buy a software product, but simply use it temporarily when the need arises.

5 . Advantagescloudcalculations

The user pays for the service only when he needs it, and most importantly, he pays only for what he uses.

Cloud technologies allow you to save on the purchase, support, and upgrade of software and equipment.

Scalability, fault tolerance and security Ї automatic allocation and release of the necessary resources depending on the needs of the application. Maintenance, the software update is carried out by the service provider.

Remote access to data in the cloud You can work from anywhere on the planet where there is access to the Internet.

For example, this could be a case in life when you live in Russia, and your colleague lives in France or the United States of America.

You can create or supplement an existing document, and after a while you can see the results of your partner’s work; this is very convenient and visual and helps save a lot of time.

To manage the parameters, start, stop of this instance, the provider provides the user with a software interface.

6. Flawscloudcalculations

The user does not own and does not have access to the internal cloud infrastructure. The safety of user data greatly depends on the provider company.

The disadvantage is relevant for Russian users: to receive quality services, the user must have reliable and fast access to the Internet.

Lack of generally accepted standards for cloud security.

7. The most popular products from the seriescloud technologies

In one form or another, cloud technologies are used in antivirus programs Kaspersky Lab, ESET, Symantec, Trend Micro, Agnitum, F-Secure, Alwil Software and some other vendors. However, they use entirely new platform only some antivirus companies.

Today the following stand out among them:

Kaspersky Lab with a line of antivirus products in 2011

Trend Micro with Titanium family of programs

Panda Security, with Panda Cloud Antivirus antivirus solution.

Immunet, with cloud product Immunet Protect (USA).

Prevx company, with cloud solutions of the same name for protecting computers.

8. The future of the Cloud market

Seminar “Cloud computing and green” information Technology"Pavel Ershov, President of Parallels, a Skolkovo resident company, opened with his report. In the lecture “What awaits the cloud market?”, he voiced the forecast that by 2015 the Russian cloud market will grow 3 times.

As IT plays an increasingly important role in society, minimizing the negative environmental impact of the production and use of IT equipment also becomes more important. At the same time, IT itself has enormous potential to reduce the negative environmental impact of other activities in society. In the near future, the environmental impact of IT will become increasingly important on the global climate agenda. Therefore, it is necessary to improve methods to combat the harmful effects of IT on the environment through more environmentally conscious use. President of Wyse Technology, Vice President of Silicon Valley Leadership Group Tarkan Maner presented the report “Green Information Technologies and Cloud Computing.” He also expressed the opinion that any manager who continues to buy computers instead of using cloud technologies should be fired.

But still, cloud technologies are widespread in Russia, but not as widely as in other countries. What is this connected with?

9. Six reasons for the slow growth of clouds in Russia

Participants at the Parallels Summit 2014 cloud conference told Digit.ru that Russian business is the most afraid of the clouds of all in the world, the least likely to use package offers, as well as other features of the domestic market. The development of cloud services in Russia, according to analysts, is approximately one and a half times behind the forecasts of analysts, who in 2012 predicted annual growth in this area at up to 50%. However, in 2013, according to a Parallels study, the cloud market grew by 32% year-over-year to $633 million. The figure was higher than global growth of 26%, but still fell well short of expectations for explosive growth. Participants in the Parallels Summit 2014 cloud conference told Digit.ru that Russian business is more afraid of the cloud than anyone else in the world, why market participants continue to rely on large companies, and other features of the industry.

1. Calculation forbig business

The Russian market traditionally focuses on large enterprises. It’s not even a matter of the price of cloud projects: medium and small enterprises in the country, according to Parallels, are about two million, which is 14 times less than in the United States. However, it is small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) that should become the main audience for cloud service providers.

“Of course, large business means large orders, but in the case of cloud services, it is irrational to focus only on large enterprises. First of all, you will be forced to make unique solutions for them - developed specifically for these enterprises - solutions, losing the effect of automation and consolidation. In fact, you will have to repeat the internal processes of such an enterprise, whereas in the small and medium-sized business sector the same service can suit hundreds of thousands of companies,” Konstantin Anisimov, director of alliances at Parallels, commented on Digit.ru.

At the same time, judging by IT costs, medium and small businesses are quite comparable in size to the corporate segment. For example, according to IDC, small businesses spent $510 billion on IT worldwide in 2010, while large businesses spent $780 billion.

Russian SMEs, according to Anisimov, are distinguished not only by their small numbers, but also by the still relatively low level of development and penetration of both cloud and IT services. For example, only 54% of Russian small and medium-sized businesses have a corporate website.

2. Cloud passivity of telecom andunderdevelopment of hosting providers

Russia lags behind in terms of outside investment proposals for cloud services large companies. Here, unlike most developed countries, telecommunications companies have avoided investing significant money in cloud services. According to Acronis CEO Sergei Belousov, the main global driving force behind cloud services for small businesses are hosting providers and telecoms. However, in Russia the hosting market, due to subjective historical circumstances, is not sufficiently developed. And telecoms, for the same reasons, are more focused on end consumers.

The hosting company Reg.ru believes that “clouds” in Russia are developing at a fairly rapid pace, becoming so natural for consumers that they simply do not notice them. “The development of cloud technologies has not slowed down, but has moved into a new phase. Now almost all consumer technologies are based on the cloud, which leads to a change in the vector of consumption around the world. Users no longer perceive “clouds” as independent technologies, taking them for granted,” believes CEO Reg.ru Alexey Korolyuk.

3. From the clouds toRussian demand is small

In most countries, according to Parallels, the main reason for using cloud services is IT efficiency, reducing IT costs while small businesses receive the same technology and power as large ones. Russia has a different paradigm of consumption. Here, cloud services are most often used to facilitate some daily IT tasks: communication with the government, administration, email. For larger-scale use, “clouds” are considered less often in Russia. While a Western SMB enterprise currently uses on average five cloud services simultaneously, in Russia this figure barely reaches three.

4. The largest infear for the worlddata leak

The factor of fear for data confidentiality in Russia, according to a Parallels report, is in first place among the reasons for abandoning cloud services, reaching almost 60%. According to this indicator, Russia is actually ahead of the whole world. For example, in the United States, almost half as many potential users of cloud services are concerned about privacy. In Russia, recommendations from IT specialists also play a large role in restraining the transition to the cloud - about 40%.

5. In Russia notlike to pay

Market players note that potential cloud service providers in Russia more often than in other countries prefer to negotiate free use most of the platform's capabilities or about a symbolic fee.

6. Record low demand for package offers

In Russia, according to a Parallels report, today the lowest percentage of SMBs who are interested in packaged services is 45%. For example, in Germany this is 70% of SMBs, in China - 74%, in Brazil, whose cloud market is often compared with the Russian one due to similar rates of development - 83%. The main reason for such a low figure in the survey of companies is the lack of transparency in the pricing of IT service packages. It is often unclear which specific offers in a package the user will be able to save on.

Cloud market experts believe that for the further development of the cloud market, mutual integration of cloud services from different vendors is important. Today, Russian SMBs in 49% of cases buy cloud services directly from completely different developers, which significantly complicates their management.

Conclusion

In general, according to analysts, despite the fact that companies in Russia use cloud services less than in developed countries, this figure is no less than in developing countries. Among the advantages of Russia is a high percentage of businesses that use broadband Internet access. Analysts, despite unfulfilled forecasts, continue to be optimistic about the future of Russian “clouds”. According to a Parallels report, the annual growth of the cloud services market for SMBs in Russia will be about 40% per year, reaching $1.7 billion by 2016. This will represent approximately 1.4% of the global market, whose average annual growth is projected at 28%.

Bibliography

1. Yulia Voronina. The sky is still growing and growing. Russian Business Newspaper No. 876 (47)

2. Anatoly Kharlamov. Cloud computing for state and municipal government: solutions from NEC Corporation

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Is everything so cloudy?

Like any other technology, this one has its pros and cons.

Padvantages of cloud technologies:

All information is available from any device, be it a PC, tablet, smartphone, etc. – connected to the Internet. The advantage here is that the user is not tied to a specific workplace.

Reducing the cost of purchasing expensive powerful computers, servers, there is no need to pay for the work of an IT specialist to maintain a local data center.

The necessary tools for work are provided automatically by the web service.

The high level of technologically advanced computing power provided to the user makes it possible to store, analyze and process data.

Services are paid only as needed for their use, and payment is made only for the required package of services.

Modern cloud computing can provide the highest reliability; moreover, only a small number of organizations can afford to maintain a full-fledged data center.

Disadvantages of cloud technologies:

To work with the cloud, a constant Internet connection is required.

The user cannot always customize the software used to suit his personal needs.

Creating your own “cloud” will require very large costs, which is not practical for new businesses.

The “cloud” is a data repository that can be accessed by attackers using system vulnerabilities.

Leading IT companies and engineers have been arguing for a long time about the pros and cons use cloud technologies. There have also been cases of predicting problems and losses of confidential data in the clouds due to widespread demand and influx of users. But still, experts note that the benefits and ease of use of cloud computing outweigh the possible risks.

"Cloud" prospects

The problems with the development of cloud technologies in Russia are quite simple. First of all, this is the imperfection of the legal field. The second reason is the insufficient distribution of broadband Internet access, both in the regions and in the central part.

IDC, Russia Vertical Markets 2013-2018 IT Spending Forecast, 2014

The disadvantages of cloud technologies include and some subjective reasons why big number enterprises are not ready to use cloud services. There is a lack of trust in service providers, a fear of using several services at once, and a lack of standards that regulate this area.

Despite cons of cloud technologies and existing problems, they are already being used in Russia, and the prospects for their successful development are favorable.

Sky-high results

Advanced information technologies today often play a major role in the success of an enterprise - the speed with which a business responds to changes in the market must be the highest and surpass its competitors. Its profitability and success directly depend on this. That's why problems of cloud technologies are widely discussed and decided today. Experts say that there are a number of tools and capabilities that will allow you to use cloud technologies to their full potential, despite their shortcomings. This big job, and it concerns not only developers. The concept of cloud technology is really important, as it can become a turning point in running a business and take it to the next level. new level, which means generating income not only for management, but also for the state.

MBOU Secondary School No. 9, Karabanovo

REPORT

In computer science

"Cloud technologies"

Completed: Plotnikov M.I.

Class 11A student

Chapter 1. The concept of “Cloud technologies”

Chapter 2. History of the emergence of cloud technologies

Chapter 3. Overview of cloud products

Chapter 4. Examples of “cloud technologies”

Chapter 5. Pros and cons of cloud technologies

Chapter 6. Prospects for the development of cloud technologies

Conclusion

Bibliography

Introduction

Everything is changing, the world does not stand still, and most Internet users are also changing their attitude towards the World Wide Web. The reason for this is “cloud technologies”, which set the “fashion” for using the Internet and storing files on the Internet. It is “behind the cloud” that Facebook, Amazon, Twitter and those “engines” on which services like Google Docs and Gmail are based now operate. All this is good, but so far it remains for the uninitiated only words, pompous and incomprehensible. So how does it work anyway?

Despite the fact that such terms as “cloud technologies” or “cloud computing” have long been heard by many, nevertheless, very few people understand what exactly cloud technology is.

At first glance, it may seem that everything is too confusing to delve into. In fact, this technology is very simple and almost every one of us has been using it for a long time, without even thinking about it. For example, everything works on the basis of the cloud social media, file hosting services, YouTube, email clients, Banking services and much more.

On in simple language cloud technology involves the use of a computer/web application located on remote servers through a user-friendly user interface or application format. Businesses and companies use various types of applications in the cloud, such as for customer relationship management (CRM), human resources, accounting, and other organizational needs.

Target: studying the issue of the emergence and development of “Cloud technologies”.

The work aims to: tasks :

formulate the concept of “Cloud technologies”,
talk about the main platforms using clouds,
present the positive and negative aspects of the service,
highlight prospects for further development in the world.

Chapter 1. The concept of “Cloud technologies”

Cloud technologies are data processing technologies in which computer resources are provided to the Internet user as an online service. The word “cloud” is present here as a metaphor, personifying a complex infrastructure that hides all the technical details behind it.

Cloud (scattered) computing (English cloud computing, the term Cloud (scattered) data processing is also used) is a data processing technology in which computer resources and power are provided to the user as an Internet service. The user has access to his own data, but cannot manage and does not have to care about the infrastructure, operating system and the actual software with which it works. The term "Cloud" is used as a metaphor based on the image of the Internet on a computer network diagram, or as an image of a complex infrastructure behind which all the technical details are hidden. 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, such as personal computers, game consoles, laptops, smartphones, etc. ."

Cloud data processing as a concept includes the concepts:

infrastructure as a service

platform as a service,

software as a service,

data as a service,

workplace as a service

and other technological trends, which have in common the belief that the Internet is able to meet the data processing needs of users.

For cloud technologies itself main feature is the uneven demand for Internet resources from users. To smooth out this unevenness, another intermediate layer is used - server virtualization. Thus, the load is distributed between virtual servers and computers.

Cloud technologies is one big concept that includes many different concepts that provide services. For example, software, infrastructure, platform, data, workplace, etc. Why is all this needed? The most important function of cloud technologies is to meet the needs of users who need to process data remotely.

What is not considered cloud computing? Firstly, this is autonomous computing on local computer. Secondly, this is “utility computing”, when the service of performing particularly complex calculations or storing data arrays is ordered. Thirdly, this is collective (distributed) computing (grid computing). In practice, the boundaries between all these types of calculations are quite blurred. However, the future of cloud computing is still much larger than communal and distributed systems.

Cloud data storage (English: cloudstorage) is an online storage model in which data is stored on numerous servers distributed over the network, provided for use by clients, mainly by third parties. In contrast to the model of storing data on your own dedicated servers, purchased or rented specifically for such purposes, the number or any internal structure of servers to the client, in general case, not visible. Data is stored, as well as processed, in the so-called cloud, which, from the client’s point of view, is one big virtual server. Physically, such servers can be located remotely from each other geographically, even located on different continents.

In order to understand what a “cloud” is, it’s worth starting with the history of this issue. It is necessary to understand: is this technology really in the category of new ideas or is this idea not so new.

Despite the ubiquity of this technology, the phrase " cloud technologies"(English) cloud technologies") remains very confusing and strange for many. And although almost every owner of personal computers and smartphones uses these “benefits of civilization” in practice, few people know how it works and how it works!

What is "cloud technology"?

Cloud technologies is a model for providing ubiquitous and convenient network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (such as servers, applications, networks, storage systems, etc.) that can be quickly provisioned and released with minimal management effort and the need to interact with provider.

Sound confusing? Let's try it in one sentence: cloud technologies are data processing technologies in which computer resources are provided to the Internet user as an online service.

An explanation of “cloud technologies” at a glance: quite recently, a program was used everywhere on computers to read email Microsoft Outlook(mail client). Today, the program itself is located on a remote server and the user can use it simply by logging into the browser (outlook.live.com/owa/) from any device. Of course, this is the simplest generalized example. In fact, the scope of application of cloud technologies and computing is much wider.

One example of how cloud computing works

About the benefits of cloud technologies

Using " cloud "(as the common people call it" cloud technologies "), the average user benefits: all computing operations occur not on the side of his computer, but on powerful servers on the network; in other words, he can use hardware and software, tools and methodologies that are not available to technical characteristics his computer.

So, no need to worry about the performance of your PC, you don't have to think about free space on disk, you don’t have to worry about backups and transferring information from one computer to another. These and other questions disappear on their own with the use of cloud technologies.

An important advantage is savings when purchasing licensed software. When using “cloud technologies”, you do not pay for a license (there is no need to buy the whole product), but only for the service - specific functions of a product in which the user is interested. Generally speaking, in the “cloud” many paid programs have become free or much cheaper web applications!

Naturally, you too no need to monitor software updates: you always use the most latest version programs (all these concerns fall on technical support"clouds").

And how not to mention" general access "?! With the help of "cloud technologies" the possibility of simultaneous access to information opens up; the same information can be viewed and edited simultaneously with different devices different users, you can share information with loved ones or partners from anywhere in the world.

About the disadvantages of cloud technologies

However, everything is not so rosy in some specific situations. There are also disadvantages:

Confidentiality. You fully agree with the safety of user data on the side of the company that provides you with “cloud technologies” (however, this has already become a controversial norm: no one is embarrassed by storing personal mail on third-party servers);
Safety. The safety of your data cannot be guaranteed by anyone (for example, when using cloud Windows relevant viruses and system vulnerabilities), nevertheless, the “cloud” itself is a more reliable system than a personal computer;
Software customization. The user does not have actual access to the software (has limitations in the software used) and sometimes does not have the opportunity to customize it to his own needs;
Constant and stable Internet. Access to cloud services requires a constant connection to the Internet (however, in our technological age this is not a significant problem).

Well-known examples of cloud technologies

Many of us use cloud technologies without even knowing it. Do you know file storages such as SkyDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive or Yandex.Disk? The user is provided with a certain space on " virtual disks", where they can store and "share" photos, music, documents, etc., synchronize information across different devices.

All popular software already has its own web representation: Office 365, Skype, text, sound, photo and video processing programs.

The most obvious example is the many services and tools from Google for a wide variety of needs (scientific, educational, cultural, user, etc.)

Cloud technologies in business

In 2006, Amazon introduced its web services infrastructure, which not only provides hosting, but also provides remote computing power to the customer. Thus began the modern era of “cloud computing” in business.

Among the most popular models cloud computing in a business environment can be called:

Virtual server rental;
Backup;
Disaster Resilience (DRaaS);
Hybrid cloud;
Virtual contact center;
Application rental;
Private cloud;
Virtual office;

Paid cloud computing is a fairly common phenomenon in the West. In the Russian-speaking segment they are not yet so noticeable; they are not yet so used to paying all their bills. Meanwhile, currently in Russia a number of cloud services are offered to small and medium-sized businesses, including: solutions based on 1C, Office in the cloud, storage and backup of information, rental of cloud applications, IT outsourcing, etc. An example of representatives of “cloud technologies” on the Russian market is the company “Smart Office” (http://www.smoff.ru).

Analysts predict a "good future" for the widespread use of cloud technologies for both personal and business purposes. They are called nothing less than the “gold mine” of the IT industry, so investors’ bet on the development of these technologies is a very chaste decision.

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