What This "Cloud" Really Is? ( Part 2 of 2)

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In the previous article we talked about Cloud Computing general idea and named its types plus layers. In this article we are going to discuss different types and layers of cloud.
By Siddique Hassan Part 2 of 2.

Types of Cloud Computing:
Cloud computing, one of the fastest growing service and business over the internet, has three types that classify it and let the companies choose
what they need according to their requirements.

Three commonly known cloud types are as follows:

• Internal or Private Cloud
• External or Public Cloud
• Hybrid Cloud

Different types of Cloud.

We will be discussing all three types of cloud one by one.

Internal Cloud:
Internal cloud or most commonly known as private cloud is just a cloud infrastructure devoted to a specific or particular organization. There is even a company's choice whether they want to manage it internally or require third-party assistance. There is very less risk of insecurity of data.
A company that uses private cloud or cloud has to first carefully replace the exiting technology and has to move towards virtualization.

External Cloud:
External cloud is also commonly known as Public cloud is similar to private cloud except the services are provided over some open network such as Internet. There is more risk of insecurity as it's being provided on some network that can be accessed easily. Companies have to provide different security measures from those of private cloud for security of customer's data.

Hybrid Cloud:
Hybrid cloud can be remarked as mixture of both private and public cloud. It provides the features of both private and public cloud which are themselves isolated entities.
It results in increased flexibility that comes from features of both models.

Cloud should not be considered as a single term but can be termed as a metaphor (or simile to some extent) for worldwide network and getting the best out of it depends on smart selection in view of your requirements.

Layers of Cloud Computing:
The cloud has been classified into three types on the basis of types of service the cloud vendors provide to their customers.
These types of classification are known as layers of cloud and are as follows:

• SaaS (Software as a Service)
• PaaS (Product as a Service)
• IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service)

  

  Layers of Cloud with common examples.

Software as a Service:
In software as a service (most commonly known as SaaS), cloud vendors provide their customers with the opportunity to use software of their need on the basic concept of "Pay as you go".
They don't ask you to buy a fully featured software instead they allow you to use the software on rent basis and charge for the time we used their resource. In SaaS, we don't need to update or to call technicians for support as the company keeps the online copy of software up to date.
SaaS has really come up with a number of benefits such as saving money and effort.

Platform as a Service:
In platform as a service (i.e. PaaS) cloud vendors provide their users with such a computing platform which includes features like operating system, environment for program execution for different programming languages, web servers etc.
It holds more powerful features than SaaS as users can build and execute their own applications in the environment of the cloud. This layer is again helpful and more reliable when it comes to money and effort.

Infrastructure as a Service:
In IaaS model that is considered to be the most basic and simplest model in cloud-service models. The vendors of this service provide their users with physical-computers as a virtual resource. It is similar to private cloud except that a third-party controls your hardware and layer. But you still have 100% control of what you have installed over the layer.