- Cloud Computing Basics
- Cloud Computing - Home
- Cloud Computing - Overview
- Cloud Computing - Evolution
- Cloud Computing - Characteristics
- Cloud Computing - Advantages
- Cloud Computing - Planning
- Cloud Computing - Technologies
- Cloud Computing - Architecture
- Cloud Computing - Infrastructure
- Cloud Deployment Models
- Public Cloud Model
- Private Cloud Model
- Hybrid Cloud Model
- Community Cloud Model
- Cloud Service Models
- Infrastructure Service
- Platform Service
- Software ervice
- Identity Service
- Network Service
- IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS
- Cloud Virtualization
- Cloud Computing Virtualization
- Server Virtualization
- Data Virtualization
- Software Virtualization
- Storage Virtualization
- Network Virtualization
- Linux Virtualization
- Cloud Advanced Concepts
- Cloud Computing - Management
- Cloud Computing - Data Storage
- Cloud Computing - Security
- Cloud Computing - Operation
- Cloud Computing - Applications
- Cloud Computing - Providers
- Cloud Computing - Challenges
- Cloud Computing - Mobile
- Google Cloud Platform
- Cloud Computing - Multitenancy
- Hypervisor Security
- Cloud Computing - Principles
- Security Architecture
- Fault Tolerance
- Cloud Computing - Resiliency
- Service Level Agreements
- Cloud Networking
- Server Consolidation
- Cloud Computing - Scaling
- Autoscaling vs Load Balancer
- Scalability and Elasticity
- Cloud Bursting vs Cloud Scaling
- Resource Pooling
- Load Balancing
- Security Threats in Implementation SaaS
- Cloud Computing - Data Center
- Cloud Computing - Aneka
- Cloud Computing - Rapid Elasticity
- Cloud Computing - Xaas
- Cloud Computing - DaaS
- Cloud Computing - CaaS
- Cloud Computing - Roots
- Cloud Hosting vs Web Hosting
- Colocation vs Cloud
- iCloud Drive vs Dropbox
- SAP vs Oracle Cloud
- Cloud Computing vs Data Science
- Cloud Integration Platform
- Onedrive and iCloud
- Private Cloud and On-premise
- What is Cloudcraft
- Bitbucket Cloud API
- Akamai vs Cloudflare
- AWS CloudWatch vs Datadog
- Cloud Burst
- Cloudflare vs CloudFront
- Elastic Cloud on Azure
- Cloud Useful Resources
- Cloud Computing - Quick Guide
- Cloud Computing - Useful Resources
- Cloud Computing - Discussion
Roots of Cloud Computing
Can you imagine being able to access your favorite music, photographs, and documents from anywhere on the planet, using any device? That is what cloud computing does. But how did it all come together? It was not instant; it came about after decades of input from various fields of computing. In this article, we will see how the cloud has developed all over the years and travel down memory lane to its origins and evolution.
The Cloud's Humble Beginnings
Cloud computing allows data or applications to be stored and accessed via the internet, making it possible to do away with local storage. It enables businesses and individuals to scale resource capabilities on demand, making digital life much more flexible and efficient. Let's see the roots of cloud computing:
The Dawn of Shared Computation
1950s - The Age of Mainframes
Shared computing dates back to the 1950s when large organizations housed mainframe computers. These machines were costly, filled entire rooms, and made it impractical for users to own personal ones. Instead, users had access to shared terminals connected to a single mainframe.
Resource-sharing was a basic step toward cloud computing: it laid the foundations for sharing between many users through a centralized computing system.
1960s - The Emergence of Time-Shared Systems
In the 1960s, researchers found ways to increase computing power by time-sharing. This meant that a computer could be shared by several users, rapidly switching between tasks, making it appear as if every user had their own machine.
J.C.R. Licklider, one of the great computer scientists, envisioned an "Intergalactic Computer Network," predicting a future where computers worldwide could be linked an early dream of the future Internet and cloud computing.
Lego Blocks Putting Together the Cloud
1970s - Towards Virtualization
The 1970s marked a breakthrough with virtualization technology. Virtual machines (VM) allow a single host to run several operating systems, encouraging better resource management and separation in computing environments.
Virtualization, which became the core concept of cloud computing, is heavily used by modern cloud providers for flexible computing resources.
1980s - The Rise of Personal Computers and Networking
In the 1980s, the personal computer revolution brought computing to homes and small offices. Networking technologies evolved, enabling file sharing and communication across computers within local area networks (LANs).
Although cloud computing wasn't a household term yet, some companies began recognizing the need for remote computing services.
The Internet and Early Cloud Concepts
1990s - The Birth of the World Wide Web and Initial Cloud Services
The early 1990s saw the rise of the World Wide Web, changing everything. With the delivery of software and services over the Internet, Application Service Providers (ASPs) emerged. ASPs hosted applications on centralized servers and allowed users to access them remotely.
Salesforce, founded in 1999, was one of the first companies to embrace the cloud. It proposed that companies could access software applications over the Internet, instead of installing software directly on computers—introducing the concept of Software as a Service (SaaS).
Grid computing also gained traction during this period, where masses of computers worked together to carry out large-scale tasks. These activities contributed to the creation of modern-day cloud data centers.
2000s - Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
The term Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) was coined in the early 2000s. The evolution of IaaS can be traced back to Amazon's Web Services (AWS), launched in 2006.
Following IaaS, other cloud service models emerged −
- PaaS (Platform as a Service) − Google and Microsoft began offering developers complete platforms to create and deploy applications without managing the underlying infrastructure.
- SaaS Expansion − Popular online applications like Google Docs and Dropbox allowed users to save and edit files online, familiarizing them with cloud-based services.
These changes revolutionized how businesses and individuals utilized computing resources, making them more scalable, cost-effective, and accessible.
The Cloud in Everyday Life
Cloud computing is omnipresent today. If you've streamed a movie on Netflix, backed up pictures on Google Drive, or talked to an AI-powered assistant like Alexa, you've already engaged with cloud technology.
It plays a crucial role in:
- Gaming − Xbox Cloud Gaming and NVIDIA GeForce Now allow users to enjoy high-end games without costly hardware.
- Healthcare − Cloud-based medical records help doctors access patient information from anywhere.
- Finance − Banks use cloud systems for fraud detection, online transactions, and customer data management.
Businesses adopt cloud computing based on the "pay-as-you-go" model, consuming resources cost-effectively as their demand grows.
The Cloud That Changes
Cloud computing has transformed how people access and store information, from the first mainframes in the 1950s to today's AI-powered cloud systems.
The journey of cloud computing continues, constantly evolving to make computing more efficient, scalable, and accessible. Who knows how cloud computing will look 50 years from now?
Will society be entirely dependent on the cloud one day? Time will tell.