Application Of Cloud Computing In Various Sectors

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

ABSTRACT

The 21st century is said to be the revolutionary era for scientific technology. First computer and then the internet both have played a very important role in carrying out this accomplishment. Since then there have been ameliorations that have emerged and always fetched a recuperated face of technology in front of us, which has been easy to conceive and implement. Cloud computing is one of the philanthropy given by technology to us. Cloud computing has been insinuated recently for business purposes but its idea was given years back. Nowadays different fields especially fields like medical research are eager to implement its power in their own field. When talking about a cloud computing system, it can be segregated into two sections: the front end and the back end. These two ends are connected through a network, usually the Internet. The front end belongs to the computer user, or the client. On the other hand the back end is the "cloud" section of the system. In this feature we will be covering some of the important sectors where cloud computing is poised to take off.

KEYWORDS: Internet, Cloud computing, Medical research, Network, Client

INTRODUCING THE CLOUD

Cloud computing has cropped up as a breakthrough in the IT industry. With its emergence it has truly revolutionized the IT sector. It has played a major role in catering to the escalating demands for storage and infrastructure. The special capability of cloud is its ability to provide hardware and software resources over a network. Broadly we can divide the cloud as:

1. Private cloud: Herein the cloud works within a defined network. For example cloud for a specific organization.

2. Public cloud: This involves the use of cloud to provide services outside the defined framework.

3. Community cloud: In a community cloud the services are provided to organizations with similar interests.

4. Hybrid cloud: As the name suggests it comprises of two or more clouds. Though the clouds are combined, still each retains its individual identity thus aiding multiple deployments.

The mechanism of cloud computing comprises of four layers:

1. Physical layer: It embodies the servers for personal use as well as for the general public access.

2. Virtualization layer: This layer deploys the virtual machine often making a single server enact multiple servers.

3. Networking layer: This layer involves working with the network and routing protocols.

4. Application layer: This layer deals with the end user. It takes care of the allotment of the assets amongst the virtual servers.

Cloud is basically a pay-per-use service. You only pay for what you use which is the core functionality of the cloud. All you need is to subscribe to a cloud provider. The three types of cloud service providers you can avail are:

1. Software as a service (SaaS): This service aids the cloud user to use any software without actually installing it on to the system. This eliminated the need to overburden your system with software that is occasionally used. The applications are provided to user over a network. The cloud users have the least control over the cloud.

2. Platform as a service (PaaS): PaaS gives its users access to components for executing their respective applications. Even if two people are present in two remote corners of the world they can actually build software, test it and bring it to work with the help of this service.

It consists of two layers:

• Cloud operating system

• Cloud middleware

3. Infrastructure as a service (IaaS): As the name suggests this layer deals with the basic infrastructure requirements. The functioning of the above two models depends on this service. Very often the organizations outsource the equipments they need, such as the hardware and the software.

RELATED WORK

Cloud computing is one of the emerging techniques that is creating a big boom with its advancement in technology. It is one of the cheapest sources of medium for the people who cannot afford costly and delicate software whose maintenance is very difficult and costly. Cloud computing is growing day by day, with a large number of small and large scale vendors with different cloud-based services, from proper applications to data storage facility to spam filtering. The cloud based data is very easy to access and does not require any kind of special equipments. All a user need to have is nominal speed internet. Some of the cloud vendors even provide cloud drives where a user can store all the important data and later can access it from anywhere e.g. Google drive. This idea is not new but it is getting a new life from IBM, Amazon.com, Sun, and others who now offer storage and virtual servers that IT can access on demand.

HISTORY OF CLOUD

The concept of "intergalactic computer network" was given in the early sixties by J.C.R.Licklider. He developed ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network) in 1969 [1]. The concept of cloud computing was actually to interconnect people and allow them to access the programs and data from anywhere. It was well explained by Margaret Lewis, product marketing director at AMD[1]. Since the time of its introduction, cloud computing have emerged at a very large scale with Web 2.0 as its brand new evolution. Since the time internet started in early nineties, cloud computing for users has been of a late developer. Salesforce.com introduced 1999 was the best achievement of cloud computing, which coined the concept of applications through online website. The next big development was Amazon Web Services introduced in 2002, which provided the services that include calculation, storage and even artificial intelligence through the Amazon Mechanical Turk. In 2006, Amazon then launched Elastic Compute cloud (EC2) as a commercial web service that allows companies and individuals to rent computers to run their own applications. As Web 2.0 hit its stride in 2009, and Google and others provided online browser-based applications, through Google Apps [2]. The leading IT firms such as Google and Microsoft are the most important and strong pillars in the emergence of different applications. [1]

APPLICATION OF CLOUD COMPUTING IN VARIOUS SECTORS

With its advent, cloud computing has occupied a very significant position in the IT industry. Distinct practical applications are making use of the services provided by it. Arenas like medical research to agriculture; educational institutions to industries are availing its services.

a. Educational institutions: Cloud computing has truly revolutionized the erudition sector. The conventional face to face classroom techniques are increasingly being replaced with other cloud mediated exercises like smart classes using pictorial and auditory illustrations. The cloud based model gives an edge to the redundant study routine people has in their daily lives. It has also enabled remote access of erudition material and has done a great deal in assisting the progress of rustic India whilst making learning easy for them.

b. Industries: Cloud computing has empowered the industries to prevent varied technical and business problems that can occur while executing their own data centres and save money by incorporating a pay-per-use facility. Additional costs for running their own data centers are reduced thus saving overheads and simultaneously availing cloud services. It also allows them to increase their resources. It has management of data and the records very easy for the companies like never before. They now have access to a plethora of software and hardware services without having the need to buy them all thus improving the quality of services.

c. Medical fields: In hospitals a cloud assists in procuring patient’s information by the medical professionals which enables them to access the data remotely instead of having to go through a hospital’s computers. This aids in updating professionals about their patient’s condition even if they are not present in the hospitals. Cloud computing is still emerging in this field. There is a lot more to come.

d. Banking Industry: All the banking companies across the world have become automated and are now increasingly availing cloud services. Though adoption of cloud in this sector is relatively low on account of the security issues that prevail. With new measures being taken this industry is now increasingly employing cloud services so as to reduce their cost of ownership. Core banking, communication services, on demand BI is some ways in which banks make use of cloud computing [7].

CLOUD SECURITY

Presently cloud computing is emerging as the hottest trend in the IT industry. It is an approach allowing access to remote computing, sharing resources and storage devices. Cloud computing is a developing field and has potential to offer services to the IT marketplace as well as the other sectors. As the events are taking their course cloud computing and its various forms are replacing the obsolete methods of storage and resource sharing in varied sectors. Education, health care industry, banking, IT industry are some such fields where if implemented cloud computing is poised to take off. Many institutions have switched to SaaS models and other cloud based services to meet their escalating needs for storage, software and hardware requirements. Many of them are now keen on devising the current infrastructures by employing other cloud computing alternatives. These institutions need a cheap, compelling, efficacious and a productive system to channelize their resources. Cloud computing provides such benefits. It is a highly automated cost effective service with an enlarged storage which allows the storing of data on private computer systems. But cloud computing also poses several security threats. For any institution implementing a cloud security tops the list of concerns which often refrains them to employ a cloud based system. Till now efforts are being taken to combat the security issues yet cloud computing has changed the face of the IT sector with the plenty of services it extends. The security issue is one major drawback with cloud today. By accepting the terms of a cloud service provider we give a share of control of our data to an external source thereby becoming prone to a security breach. If we classify the security issues can be divided into two parts:

1. Security threats faced by the cloud service providers

2. Security threats faced by the end users.

The cloud is an easy target and may prove to be a problem because it can be used via an unsecure internet connection. Concern about the loss of information and control over a cloud has also limited its greater adoption. Many measures are being taken to prevent malicious attacks on cloud. To ensure security several dimensions are given. Obliging to these by the service providers can aid data security to a great extent. These dimensions can be broadly seen as [6]:

• Security and privacy

• Compliance

•Legal and contractual issues

BACKDROPS OF CLOUD COMPUTING

Restrictions

There are restrictions on programming applications that can be run using cloud methods.

Service unavailability

Depends completely on an internet connection. It is useless in case of absence of an internet connection or a server breakdown and thus may affect work productivity.

Security threats

Cloud is prone to attack by hazards and malware

Inconsistency

A cloud suffers from issues of data and code redundancy which makes it inconsistent

Slowness

The rapidity of action is of major concern for cloud computing, lack of high speed can affect the performance. For example: to carry out a talk with the help of video conferencing using cloud, a high and a consistent speed is necessary.

Need for Understanding

A trained person is required for taking care of the contract with the service provider with a cloud service provider, Since the hardware, software, virtualization, deployment of the cloud solely relies at the provider inexperience in this part can make it hard to keep hold of it.

Reduced adaptability

Lack of flexibility. Difficulty in upgrading the software without any loss of information.

Cost ineffective

It may be cheaper than software installed in your computer but most often it doesn’t provide all the features of the software. These missing features may be of importance to you thus affecting your work.

CONCLUSION

With the plethora of services that cloud computing provides it still has huge opportunities in the IT market. With its increased adoption various sectors cloud computing is culminating. The security issues it puts forward are continuously being worked upon to make the cloud services safe and secure. Researches are being carried out in the field of parallel computing which an extended part of cloud is computing. Several other researches are also being done in various other sectors to explore the cloud further. Very soon cloud computing is going to replace the conventional methods of computing.