Chapter 1. What is cloud computing?
Figure 1.1. Amazon originally deployed a large IT infrastructure to support its global e-commerce platform. In less than 18 months after making the platform available as a cloud service to external users, its usage, as measured by amount of bandwidth consumed, outstripped bandwidth used internally.
Figure 1.2. IT organizations have several alternatives for hosting applications. The choice of deployment model has different implications for the amount of CAPEX (up-front capital expenditure) and OPEX (ongoing operational costs). The number of $ signs represent the relative level of CAPEX and OPEX involved with the choice of deployment model.
Figure 1.3. Cloud computing as a concept entered our collective consciousness in mid-2007. This figure shows the rapid rise in popularity of the search term cloud computing as measured by Google. The labels correspond to major cloud announcements. A: Microsoft announces it will rent cloud computing space; B: Philadelphia Inquirer reports, “Microsoft’s cloud computing system grow is growing up”; C: Winnipeg Free Press reports, “Google looks to be cloud-computing rainmaker.” Source: Google Trends (www.google.com/trends), on the term cloud computing.
Figure 1.4. A picture of a cloud is a ubiquitous representation of the internet and is used almost universally in discussions or drawings of computer architecture.