Cloud Computing Simplified

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Contrary to popular belief Cloud Computing isn't a new field of technology (relatively speaking). It was implemented way earlier in 2000's decade in the United States. The reason why there's a lot of demand for professionals having expertise in the cloud, is that the scope of this technology is not limited to few big corporations but even small businesses, startups, freelance developers and even various government agencies take advantage of the wide variety of products, services and support offered by the cloud.

Firstly, I am going to dispel the notion that 'Cloud' in the field of Information Technology refers to the same thing that floats in the atmosphere. The 'Cloud' is simply and precisely said is nothing but a metaphor for the Internet. Basically using the cloud for doing your tasks is nothing but using someone's else's computer and servers.

History of Cloud Computing

The concept of Cloud Computing was first proposed John Carl Licklider while he was working on ARPANET in the 1960's. CompuServe was the first to offer disk space for storing data to it's consumers in 1983. Then in 2005 Box came in the market for online file sharing and personal content management. In 2006 Amazon Web Services released AWS S3 which made a revolution in the domain of online data storage.

Since then Cloud has expanded across the globe and hence made tectonic shift in the structure of Tech Industry.

The Big Players

For the last few years there is cut-throat competition among all the major enterprise level cloud providers which is colloquially known as 'The Cloud Wars'.

Below is an overview of all the mainstream cloud providers and some of the discrete services that they offer. Corporations may choose to use multiple Clouds.

1. Alibaba Cloud:

Chinese tech giant Alibaba is a relatively new player in the enterprise cloud market. But its surely been creating a buzz. It's main features are content delivery, elastic storage, and scalability. It also has the best cyber security feature that protects you from DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service, which targets any system from multiple nodes) attacks. It has been certified gold by the British Standards Institute. Alibaba Cloud also offers in-built relational database service known as ApsaraDB.

In terms of market share about 2% of all applications are using Alibaba Cloud.

2. IBM Cloud:

American IT Corporation IBM launched it's own Cloud service to better facilitate it's subsidiaries and dependents. They offer all the usual features like flexible architecture and scalability that you would expect from a major cloud provider. Some of it's unique features are the services they offer to the scientific community. In niche areas such as Quantum Computing and Quantum Chemistry IBM has really stepped up. With a lot of investment in research IBM will certainly bring a lot of technological advancement to the Cloud.

In terms of market share about 15% of all applications are currently using on IBM Cloud.

3. Google Cloud Platform:

Google Cloud is the fastest growing cloud platform in world. With 26% of all upcoming cloud based applications using some GCP service, it is slated to be #1 in the next decade or so. Out of all the cloud providers, I find GCP to be beginner friendly and the easiest to use and never compromises on functionality. It has extensive features such as Google's Compute Engine and Kubernetes. The best feature according to me is the in-built Google API's which are exclusive to GCP. Using native supported YouTube, Maps & Actions API's, you can make a working cloud based application in very less amount of time with very little work. You can also contribute to Google Cloud as their Data Analytics tools are open source. On top of that they are very promising to use when testing or developing AI and ML related projects. the TensorFlow library takes care of all your needs.

In terms of market share about 20% of all applications are currently using Google Cloud Platform.

4. Azure:

Microsoft Azure is currently the runner up in this competition. Azure has everything you need and the interface you expect from top tier cloud provider. Data analytics, AI, IoT you name it Azure has got you covered. One of things that I personally find appealing about Azure is that their Web Deployment service is one of a kind. As it's Microsoft they provide native support applications running on C# or .Net, so that you don't face any hurdles while setting up, launching and managing your product. and also give some support to MS Office. As a majority of desktop applications use some form of Microsoft technology in one way or the other a large number of corporations are opting for Azure.

In terms of market share about 58% of all applications are currently using Microsoft Azure.

5. AWS:

At #1 is the King of 'em all, AWS (acronym for Amazon Web Services). This is a one stop destination for everything you need related to Cloud. From AI, Web Applications, Data Analytics, Big Data, IoT, Mobile Computing, Android Development and even Game Development, AWS is there for you. Most of the businesses across different industries place their trust in AWS. Even the NSA (National Security Agency) of the United States used AWS (with more security) for data storage. This is because AWS was the first enterprise level Cloud Company when they first launched in 2006, since then there's no looking back. They have the highest number of data centers in the world providing support to companies such as Walmart, BBC News, Netflix and of course Amazon.com, to name a few. Now they are also providing a physical storage devices 'AWS Snowball' to make the device storage independent of the AWS data centers. You can store even Terabytes of data using an AWS truck. So the way it works is that the truck is going to come to your location and connect a cable to your device and that's how data transfer is going to take place. The trailer attached to the truck contains gigantic AWS Snowball storage device.

They are also investing on providing training to upcoming cloud practitioners through their program 'AWS Educate'.

However with a lot features, products and services AWS is not really for beginners you need to put in a lot of effort to learn all the in's and out's of AWS.

In terms of market share 68% of all applications are using AWS.

Getting Started

After being familiar with all the Cloud Computing platforms, There are certain prerequisites that you need to follow before you dive into the Cloud.

Learn about Operating Systems Concepts.
Intermediate to advanced level understanding of Database Management Systems.
Computer Networks is also very important to understand how various components of the Cloud interact with each other.
Computer Organisation & Architecture is the basic concept of Cloud Computing along with Virtualization.
Linux Commands are definitely essential to learn Cloud because when you launch your own virtual machine on the cloud, you need to interact with it almost exclusively through the command line. Since most servers are running on Linux, your shell scripting skills also come into play.

On top of that you need to to have Cloud specific Certifications to enhance your skills.

Today, if you want to be a senior level Cloud Developer than you definitely need to be an expert in at least one domain in all the top 3 Cloud Platforms.