The cloud services revolution
29.06.2020
Back to blog listConducting software and web operations is an expensive endeavor indeed. Despite the advantages that it provides, offering the ability to find customers all around the globe and accessing limitless information, there are particular challenges that have kept organizations leery of obtaining the costly equipment and manpower necessary in order to conduct these operations. Cloud computing has changed all of that. Now, companies can have any software or hardware-related works taken off their hands by tech giants with unlimited server power, extraordinary scalability, available teams to conduct any development tasks – all at a price that is far more affordable for everyday businesses and organizations – a considerable economic boon. Such infrastructure as a service includes hardware for rent, databases, machine learning, big data, compute, custom web applications, cloud storage services, and countless other IT industry advantages.
IaaS vs PaaS vs SaaS
The form of cloud services companies usually go with in which companies don’t have to manage anything themselves is Software as a Service (or SaaS), which uses the Internet to deliver applications managed by a third party vendor without the client having to download anything. It is also referred to as cloud application services. Then there is PaaS, Platform as a Service, which gives developers a basis to create customized applications a framework to build on. Both the business and third-party outfits can manage the servers. Finally, the most-hands-on format is Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), which is completely self-serviced. This gives software engineers the equipment they need to use without having to buy it up front themselves.
Several of Silicon valley’s giants have come up with their own examples of cloud computing models, the primary two players being AWS and Azure. Amazon’s AWS has been on the market for the longest amount of time, since 2006, and therefor has the most extensive and profound cloud solution assortment. It boasts some of the most high-profile clients, including a lot of giants in their own respective markets, such as Airbnb and Pinterest. Together, AWS and Microsoft Azure dominate the market with a combined 70% of the cloud service provider market. On the other hand, Fortune 500 companies nearly unanimously go with Azure while Google Cloud is an up-and-coming, small-scale competitor in its own right, which, despite not being as smooth, specializes in smaller-time niche solutions that major companies appreciate. Each is as beneficial as it suits the client’s preferences and particular situation, particularly in terms of the software and hardware they are already using.
Cloud security has revolutionized the difficulty of criminals penetrating organizations’ control centers. AWS cloud security and Azure cloud security both provide highly robust security with algorithms that are especially difficult for criminals to crack.
Pros and Cons of Each Cloud Deployment Model
Generally speaking, in part due to perceived security risks of cloud computing, companies prefer to enter cloud computing gradually instead of making the entire switch in one giant leap. They have their own particular ways of doing things with their own corporate server and hardware on premises. Such a model of combined cloud services and on premises operations is called a hybrid model. Furthermore, each model with its own strengths and weaknesses across various areas, major companies often decide to use a combination of Google cloud, Azure, and AWS. Microsoft cloud services is well built for hybrid operation while Amazon cloud is the opposite, which only launched Snowball Edge two years ago to aid customers with such preferences.
With a broader selection of IoT features, cloud storage operating at lightning speed compared the others, long-term data archiving, the choice of the programming language the client prefers, and least frequent system failures, AWS for now is the unquestioned leader of the market, but due to the vast amount of confusing options it has, for more casual users, this is generally seen as a flaw. Meanwhile, Azure however has a better reach when it comes to cloud development, software testing, and operates in the most world regions. It is also has more straightforward pricing than AWS and is great at recruiting customers that already have Microsoft services Windows Directory and Windows Server.
One strength that Google has is its open source approach and emphasis on innovation. Many customers that already use Google services like Google Translate and Google AdSense will prefer it due to the convenience. Some of the appeal that Google also offers its customers comes from its containers, deep learning library, machine learning projects, cloud-native operations, and industry-specific solutions.
