How is the Cloud Different from the Internet

How the Cloud is different from the internet is a question to ponder on. The internet is a worldwide network of innumerable interconnected computers across the world. It offers numerous services and resources like email and the “world wide web”. The World Wide Web provides users with access to infinite hyperlinked documents.

Over the last decade, the focus has shifted towards offering every kind of resource (otherwise locally available traditionally) over the internet. The Cloud is a direct outcome of this attempt that offers myriad resources like software, infrastructure, and platforms as services.

Related: What is Cloud Computing & how does it work ?

Cloud Computing:

In order to comprehend how the Cloud is different from the Internet, it is necessary to understand what Cloud computing is. Cloud computing is the advancing technology of offering various kinds of resources as services, principally over the net.

The delivering party is known as the “service provider” and the users are referred to as “subscribers”. The subscribers are usually required to pay subscription fees on a typical per-use basis. Learn more about Technology Behind Cloud Computing from our previous posts.

Cloud computing can be categorized on the basis of the types of services:

• “Software as a Service” or SaaS is that category of Cloud computing where the principal resources available as a service are “software applications”.
• “Platform as a Service” or PaaS is the application or category of Cloud computing where the service provider delivers a solution stack or a computing platform to the subscribers over the internet.
• “Infrastructure as a Service” or IaaS is a category of Cloud computing where hardware infrastructure are the principal resources available as a service.
• “Desktop as a Service” or DaaS, an emerging –aaS service, aims to provide a complete desktop experience over the internet.

Related to Cloud Computing: How Cloud Computing Speeds Mobile Application Development?

The Internet:

A full understanding of how the Cloud is different from the Internet requires one to comprehend what the internet is. As mentioned earlier, the internet, abbreviated from “internetwork”, is a worldwide mesh of interconnected computers. It is a network of networks that connects innumerable computers belonging to millions of government, public, academic, and private networks. The internet uses the Internet Protocol/Transfer Control Protocol (IP/TCP) for communications between interconnected computers.

Computers remain physically connected through wireless, optical, and electronic technologies. The core protocols (IPv6 and IPv4) are standardized by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). Hypertext documents making up the world wide web and infrastructure required for email are a few of the most-used services or resources that the internet offers. The internet has made the world a global village.

Difference between the Cloud and the Internet:

The internet is a network of networks that provides software or hardware infrastructure to maintain and establish connectivity of computers across the globe, while the Cloud is a newer technology that offers various kinds of resources over the internet.

Thus, the Cloud could be recognized as a technology that makes use of the internet as the medium of communication for the delivery of its services. Although it is possible to offer Cloud services within organizations through local area networks, the Cloud cannot operate internationally sans the internet.