Cloud Computing: On-demand and In-demand

NKU professor Wei Hao discusses cloud computing, providing an overview of what it is, why its important, the reasons businesses continue to transition to it, and the kinds of career opportunities that exist in this rapidly expanding field.

You can learn more about cloud computing with a Computer Information Technology degree from NKU. 

Transcript

Mike Nitardy: 0:10

Welcome to the Informatics Cafe. My name is Mike Nitardy and I will be your host. Today's special is cloud computing. With us in the cafe today to discuss cloud computing is Dr. Wei Hao. Wei is a computer science professor at the Department of Computer Science at Northern Kentucky University in the College of Informatics. Wei it's great to have you with us today.

Wei Hao: 0:33

Thank you, Mike. I'm delighted to be here to talk about cloud computing.

Mike Nitardy: 0:38

So I guess we'll just jump right in with the first question. Which is, what is cloud computing?

Wei Hao: 0:45

The term cloud comes from the cloud icon used in network diagrams. Today, the cloud is a large set of hardware and software hosted in a data center. Cloud computing is the on demand delivery of computing services, such as servers, storage networks, and applications over the internet. Here, the internet means the cloud.

Mike Nitardy: 1:22

Very good. So why is cloud computing important for businesses?

Wei Hao: 1:29

Every business needs IT resources in order to operate and in order to succeed. In the past, successful companies spend precious time and resources building IT infrastructure. Building and running infrastructures were very expensive. First, the company had to invest in buying servers, storage, routers, and software licensing. This infrastructure cost was very high, upfront cost. Second, the company has to hire someone to babysit the infrastructure. This is the people cost associated with running the infrastructure. Finally, running the infrastructure had associated power and energy cost. This was a huge burden for any business, especially for small business. Cloud computing transforms, computing and IT infrastructure into a utility, like your monthly utility bill. Your only charge? What you use. Cost saving is like a huge benefit of cloud computing. Also, besides that cost saving, cloud offers great flexibility. Now you can access the cloud resources any time anywere through any devices. Also, cloud can scale up and scale down resources dynamically, to fulfill the changing needs without interruption of service.

Mike Nitardy: 3:28

Right.

Wei Hao: 3:29

To the consumer the cloud appears to have no limit. Consumer can start with very little computing power and then expand their environment to any size. Finally, I mean, that's cloud computing also provide better performance and availability.

Mike Nitardy: 3:52

Very good. I mean, that's a lot. There's a lot for businesses and obviously the benefits are very clear. What are the key components then in the services provided in the cloud?

Wei Hao: 4:04

You're really I mean, the key component are services like compute, storage, networking, and security services. The compute service provides a computing capability, such as virtual machines, containers, or like serverless computing. Storage services provide a storage capability, such as block storage, file storage, and object storage. Networking provides that content delivery capabilities. Finally, I mean that security is also important right now it's very important. So it offers identity and access management.

Mike Nitardy: 4:54

Right.

Wei Hao: 4:54

It provides authentication and authorization features.

Mike Nitardy: 4:58

Very good. So what are the different types of cloud deployments then?

Wei Hao: 5:05

For cloud deployment, there are like three types of

cloud deployments: 5:10

public cloud, private cloud, and the hybrid cloud.

Mike Nitardy: 5:15

Okay.

Wei Hao: 5:16

In the in the public cloud, for computing resources, owned and managed by a cloud provider. Example, I mean, for example, like Microsoft, Azure, Amazon AWS are examples of public cloud. Private cloud, all computing resources are used exclusively by a single company. A private cloud can be either physically located on company's onsite data center, or the company can pay a cloud provider to host [the company's hardware in] their private cloud.

Mike Nitardy: 5:55

Okay.

Wei Hao: 5:56

Hybrid cloud combines public cloud and private cloud. It allows data and applications to be shared between public and private cloud. It gives users greater flexibility.

Mike Nitardy: 6:13

I think you might have mentioned this, but that I think, also bears asking what are the top cloud applications of today?

Wei Hao: 6:21

Nowadays, we have a lot of apps, I mean, cloud apps.

Mike Nitardy: 6:26

Mmm hmm.

Wei Hao: 6:26

Cloud apps are changing the way we live and work.

Mike Nitardy: 6:29

Mmm hmm.

Wei Hao: 6:30

The top cloud apps include Microsoft Office 365, it is an online version of Microsoft Office. Salesforce is a suite of tools used by sales, and marketing people to track their customers. Amazon Web Services, it is the most popular cloud computing platform. Google Apps is a suite of Office apps that people collaborate on documents together. And also something like Dropbox is like cloud storage that people share files.

Mike Nitardy: 7:12

So are these the types of topics that you would cover in one of your classes?

Wei Hao: 7:17

Well, yes. Basically, we have a CIT 436 Cloud Computing class. Yeah, I covered some of topics in this class. It's very hands-on class.

Mike Nitardy: 7:29

Very good. And so what are what are some cloud computing job prospects then?

Wei Hao: 7:35

This is a really good question. Cloud computing right now is hottest IT trend. The job prospects is very bright, because more and more companies are shifting their applications and the data to the cloud. So many cloud jobs are being created. Right now, I think the cloud computing jobs ranging from cloud architects, developers, to cloud security engineers, and cloud DevOps engineers. They all are well-paid jobs.

Mike Nitardy: 8:14

Wow, that is something. It sounds like a fascinating area to be going into. And we've really covered you know, quite a bit here in our small time together. I want to thank you so much Wei, for for joining us in the cafe today. And to all of our guests, thank you so much for joining us. Take care. Informatics Cafe is a production of Informatics+, the outreach arm of Northern Kentucky University's College of Informatics. Hosted by Mike Nitardy. Produced by Chris Brewer. Music and engineering by Aaron Zlatkin. Recorded at the Informatics Audio Studio in Griffin Hall.