1. Introduction to cloud computing
Hey there! I’m Sara, and I’ll be your instructor on your journey to Understanding Cloud Computing.
Let’s start with a fun fact. In 2024, Amazon Web Services exceeded $100 billion in revenue with a net operating income of nearly $40 billion - more than 60% of Amazon’s entire revenue!
Wait, what?
AWS has grown so fast it overshadowed the company’s retail business. Crazy, right?
And it’s not slowing down.
So, what exactly is cloud computing?
At its core, cloud computing is the delivery of technology services—like computing power, storage, databases, and networking—over the internet, with pay-as-you-go pricing.
Instead of owning and maintaining physical servers or data centers, companies can rent access to these services from cloud providers like AWS, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud Platform.
But how does it actually work?
Let’s break it down with an example.
Imagine you run a company with a website like DataCamp. Learners visit the website to take courses, but during special promotions like "Free Week," traffic surges.
More visitors equals more demand on the website’s infrastructure.
If DataCamp’s servers can’t handle the spike, the site slows down—or even crashes. Not good. Frustrated users might leave, and that’s a missed opportunity.
So, how do we prevent this?
One way is the traditional method—buying powerful physical servers and hosting your website on them. This server sits in a data center or office and is always running.
But here’s the problem:
If traffic surges, you need more servers to keep up.
Buying or renting extra servers just for occasional spikes is expensive.
If traffic drops again, you’re stuck paying for unused capacity.
Now, enter cloud computing.
With cloud hosting, you don’t need to own physical servers. Instead, your website runs on cloud servers that you can scale up or down instantly based on demand.
Traffic surges? Just increase computing power in seconds.
Traffic slows down? Scale back and only pay for what you use.
Think of it like your electricity bill—you don’t pay a fixed amount; you pay for what you consume.
So, which approach is better? Well, it depends.
Cloud computing is flexible, scalable, and quick to set up; however, security and cost has been an issue, but they have improved significantly in recent years.
On-premise servers offer control and can be more secure, but they can be challenging to scale and expensive to maintain.
And cloud computing isn’t just for hosting websites—it powers data storage, backups, AI models, streaming services, and much more.
Companies worldwide rely on the cloud to innovate, grow, and stay competitive.
Now, let’s practice!
2. Let's practice!