Cloud Computing

Cloud computing provides many businesses with affordable and customizable services. Yet many avoid this technological resource because they don’t understand it. This week’s column should explain the concept. Cloud computing is a lot like utility computing. However, cloud computing focuses on using the Internet for software and other resources. Cloud computing offers more elasticity and scalability than normal computing. Businesses have access to many resources from both the private and public clouds. Computers can easily switch to a new OS with PaaS (platform as a service). They can also switch to a new server with IaaS (infrastructure as a service).

Businesses benefit from the pay as you go pricing of cloud computing. And with SaaS (software as a service), the deployment of new software is almost automatic. It eliminates the need to buy software and install it on every single computer. Furthermore, businesses can monitor their usage and cancel services anytime.

Installing a CDN (content delivery network) is a local form of cloud computing that will increase bandwidth. A CDN designates computers on a network for storage. Instead of all computers clogging one server to retrieve data, each user accesses data on a nearby CDN storage computer.

1. Public cloud, 2. Cloud computing, 3. Private cloud, 4. Utility computing, 5. PaaS, 6. IaaS, 7. Scalability

A. Internet services available for a fee.

B. Internet services available to everyone.

C. Receiving server functions over the Internet.

D. Receiving operating systems over the Internet.

E. Use of the Internet for software and other services.

F. Potential for a system to change size.

G. Computing as a metered service.

Unit 6 software

Ex.1. Read the text about software and define the term ’computer software”.

What is Software?

Computer software is a general term used to describe a collection of computer programs, procedures and documentation that perform some tasks on a computer system. Software includes websites, programs, video games, etc. that are coded by programming languages like C, C++, etc. The term “software” is sometimes used in a broader context to mean anything which is not hardware (which encompasses the physical interconnections and devices required to store and execute (or run) the software) but which is used with hardware, such as film, tapes, records, etc.

In computers, software is loaded into RAM and executed in the CPU. Once the software is loaded, the computer is able to execute the software. This involves passing instructions from the application software, through the system software, to the hardware which ultimately receives the instruction as machine code. Each instruction causes the computer to carry out an operation – moving data, carrying out a computation, or altering the control flow of instructions. Software is usually written in high-level programming languages that are easier and more efficient for humans to use (closer to natural language) than machine language. The term “software” was first used by John. W. Tukey in 1958.