A guide to cloud computing, the multibillion-dollar industry that powers your favorite apps – Business Insider

You may have heard of "the cloud" countless times, but only have a general idea what it means. Cloud computing is the delivery of "on-demand" computing services whether it's storage, software, processing power, or other resources over the internet. You typically pay as you go, billed only for the resources you use or the storage amount you're subscribed to.

Though cloud computing isn't an especially new innovation (it's been around for decades), it's become increasingly important to the most popular apps around today.

The term "cloud computing" masks a lot of complexity. Where is the server? "In the cloud" most users generally don't need to know more than that.

The name obscures the fact that there are several different kinds of cloud computing architectures.

Not only are there distinctions between the architecture of cloud services, but there are some key differences in the kind of applications that cloud computing is used for.

Cloud computing services tend to fall into one of three main categories, and you can read more about this in our guide to cloud applications.

While cloud computing was a novelty in years past, the proliferation of online services, web apps, broadband, massive commercial data centers, and other technologies have made cloud computing a core part of today's technological landscape. Here are some of the most common applications for cloud computing today.

While cloud computing has become a critical part of the modern computing landscape, it's not without its disadvantages.

For example, despite the appeal of "renting" rather than "buying," cloud computing isn't necessarily cheaper. Long-term, it can be more cost-effective to own and operate your own computing resources, especially if you need those resources indefinitely. If the company hosting your cloud computing service of choice shuts down, you could lose all your data.

Additionally, there are security concerns. If a third party is hosting your data, it's a potential risk vector for hackers and corporate espionage.

Companies may also want to own their own computing resources as a way to differentiate their capabilities. If you are using the same third-party services as the competition, for example, it's difficult to offer capabilities that are better than, or even different than what they offer.

On the other hand, cloud computing is popular today because it still offers significant advantages over local computing. It's less costly, at least in the short term, compared to owning your own servers.

It also allows for greater mobility and portability of your data it's already in the cloud and can be accessed from anywhere. And it moves responsibility for factors like security and disaster recovery to a third party that theoretically has that expertise.

See the rest here:

A guide to cloud computing, the multibillion-dollar industry that powers your favorite apps - Business Insider