So what is the cloud? Does the information really exist in the air itself?
This picture is a perfect illustration of what the cloud truly is. It is not that dissimilar than the internet. It is an internet of applications inside servers in different locations working together in harmony. I think I am oversimplifying it a little bit. Then again, calling it, cloud technology is oversimplifying it as well. It is called a cloud as an attempt to illustrate where the information is, everywhere. Let's take the uber application, which is on your phone. The application is also on numerous servers around Singapore.
These servers also talk to all the servers where the application housed around the globe. The application is running off your cellular data connection, the underground internet fibre connection, it is running off the wifi in your house. There are packets of '0's and '1's bouncing around everywhere around you much like the internet itself. The cloud is using the internet as it's central infrastructure and their applications in servers around the globe talk to each other through it, almost like a type of supercomputer, calculating and helping one another. Cloud computing is simply an evolution of the internet. Websites or applications were hosted in a handful of servers before cloud computing took over. Now there are content delivery networks that allow your application to run from the closest possible physical location to you. Imagine being in Singapore and trying to access a video from America.
Netflix would have never taken off worldwide if it were not for its adoption of cloud solutions, namely Amazon Web Services, to help it deliver its content and application throughout the globe. It is a vast subject of this cloud stuff. And if you could simplify it to a bunch of servers running the same thing in many different locations, you understand how the cloud works.
Thank you for reading 'what is the cloud' and have a great day ahead.
