Cloud Computing Overview ..

Cloud computing, also on-demand computing, is a kind of Internet-based computing that provides shared processing resources and data to computers and other devices on demand. It is a model for enabling ubiquitous, on-demand access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications and services), which can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort.

NIST(National Institute of Standards and Technology) also offers up several characteristics that it sees as essential for a service to be considered “Cloud”. These characteristics include - 

1. On-demand self-service - The ability for an end user to sign up and receive services without the long delays that have characterized traditional IT
2. Broad network access - Ability to access the service via standard platforms (desktop, laptop, mobile etc)
3. Resource pooling - Resources are pooled across multiple customers
4. Rapid elasticity - Capability can scale to cope with demand peaks 
5. Measured Service - Billing is metered and delivered as a utility service

Cloud computing comes in three forms:

• public cloud
• private cloud
• hybrids cloud

A public cloud is basically the internet. Service providers use the internet to make resources, such as applications (also known as Software-as-a-service) and storage, available to the general public, or on a ‘public cloud.  Examples of public clouds include Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), IBM’s Blue Cloud, Sun Cloud, Google AppEngine and Windows Azure Services Platform. 

Private clouds are data center architectures owned by a single company that provides flexibility, scalability, provisioning, automation and monitoring. Private clouds are data center architectures owned by a single company that provides flexibility, scalability, provisioning, automation and monitoring. 

Hybrid clouds can maintain control of an internally managed private cloud while relying on the public cloud as needed.  For instance during peak periods individual applications, or portions of applications can be migrated to the Public Cloud.

Service-oriented architecture advocates "everything as a service".
Service models:

• Infrastructure as a service (IaaS)
• Platform as a service (PaaS)
• Software as a service (SaaS)

IaaS is the hardware and software that powers it all – servers, storage, networks, operating systems. SaaS applications are designed for end-users, delivered over the web. PaaS is the set of tools and services designed to make coding and deploying those applications quick and efficient.

Cloud Analytics is a service model in which elements of the data analytics process are provided through a public or private cloud. Cloud Analytics applications and services are typically offered under a subscription-based or utility (pay-per-use) pricing model. 

ref:

Cloud Computing Wiki - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_computing

Intel Cloud Computing - https://www-ssl.intel.com/content/www/us/en/cloud-computing/intel-cloud-based-solutions.html

IaaS vs PaaS vs SaaS - 

• https://support.rackspace.com/white-paper/understanding-the-cloud-computing-stack-saas-paas-iaas/
• https://www.computenext.com/blog/when-to-use-saas-paas-and-iaas/
• http://www.networkworld.com/article/2182527/virtualization/iaas-vs--paas-vs--saas.html

Data Analytics in Cloud Computing - http://technologyadvice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Data-Analytics-in-Cloud-Computing_TechnologyAdvice.pdf

Big Data in Cloud - http://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/product-briefs/big-data-cloud-technologies-brief.pdf

Cloud and Big Data Analytics - https://education.emc.com/guest/campaign/Cloud_BigData.aspx

Big Data in Amazon AWS - https://aws.amazon.com/big-data/

BigQuery is Google's fully managed, petabyte scale, low cost analytics data warehouse - https://cloud.google.com/bigquery/

Misc - 

1. http://www.asigra.com/blog/cloud-types-private-public-and-hybrid