Cloud Glossary
Business analytics tools
Tools that extract data from business systems and integrate it into a repository, such as a data warehouse, where it can be analysed. Analytics tools range from spreadsheets with statistical functions to sophisticated data mining and predictive modeling tools.
Business intelligence (BI) tools
Tools that process large amounts of unstructured data in books, journals, documents, health records, images, files, email, video and so forth, to help you discover meaningful trends and identify new business opportunities.
Cloud
A metaphor for a global network, first used in reference to the telephone network and now commonly used to represent the Internet.
Cloud Bursting
A configuration which is set up between a private cloud and a public cloud. If 100 percent of the resource capacity is used in a private cloud, then overflow traffic is directed to the public cloud using cloud bursting.
Cloud Computing
A delivery model for computing resources in which various servers, applications, data and other resources are integrated and provided as a service over the Internet. Resources are often virtualised.
Cloud Computing Types
There are three main cloud computing types, with additional ones evolving: software-as-a-service (SaaS) for web-based applications, infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) for Internet-based access to storage and computing power and platform-as-a-service (PaaS) that gives developers the tools to build and host Web applications.
Cloud Service Provider
A company that provides a cloud-based platform, infrastructure, application or storage services, usually for a fee.
Cloud Storage
A service that lets you store data by transferring it over the Internet or another network to an offsite storage system maintained by a third party.
Computer Grids
Groups of networked computers that act together to perform large tasks, such as analysing huge sets of data and weather modeling. Cloud computing lets you assemble and use vast computer grids for specific time periods and purposes, paying only for your usage and saving the time and expense of purchasing and deploying the necessary resources yourself. Content Delivery Network (CDN) A Content Delivery Network (CDN) is a collection of global servers that caches and delivers content. It works by providing alternative server nodes for users to download resources (usually static content like images and JavaScript). These nodes spread throughout the world, therefore being geographically closer to your users, ensuring a faster response and download time of content due to reduced latency Data Center
A data center is a facility that centralizes an organization’s IT operations and equipment, and where it stores, manages, and disseminates its data. Data centers house a network’s most critical systems and are vital to the continuity of daily operations. Consequentially, the security and reliability of data centers and their information is a top priority for organizations.
Elastic Computing
The ability to dynamically provision and de-provision computer processing, memory and storage resources to meet changing demands without worrying about capacity planning and engineering for peak usage.
Hybrid Cloud
A cloud that combines public and private clouds, bound together by technology that allows data and applications to be shared between them. A hybrid cloud gives businesses greater flexibility to scale up and down and more deployment options. Hyper-scale Datacenter Hyperscale data centers have architectures that are designed to provide a single, massively scalable compute architecture. The architecture is typically made up of small, individual servers, called nodes, that provide compute, storage and networking. These nodes are then clustered together and managed as if they were a single entity. Nodes are typically deployed from inexpensive, off the shelf servers.
Infrastructure as a service (IaaS)
A virtualised computer environment delivered as a service over the Internet by a provider. Infrastructure can include servers, network equipment and software. Also called hardware as a service (HaaS).
Middleware
Software that lies between an operating system and the applications running on it. It enables communication and data management for distributed applications, like cloud-based applications, so, for example, the data in one database can be accessed through another database. Examples of middleware are web servers, application servers and content management systems.
Platform as a Service (PaaS)
A computing platform (operating system and other services) delivered as a service over the Internet by a provider. An example is an application development environment that you can subscribe to and use immediately. Azure offers PaaS. Discover the advantages of PaaS.
Private Cloud
Services offered over the Internet or over a private internal network to only select users, not the general public
Public Cloud
Services offered over the public Internet and available to anyone who wants to purchase them.
Software as a service (SaaS)
An application delivered over the Internet by a provider. Also called a hosted application. The application does not have to be purchased, installed or run on users’ computers. SaaS providers were previously referred to as ASPs (application service providers).
Virtual Machine
A computer file (typically called an image) that behaves like an actual computer. Multiple virtual machines can run simultaneously on the same physical computer.
Virtualisation
The act of creating a virtual rather than a physical version of a computing environment, including computer hardware, operating system, storage devices and so forth.