Written by Sümeyye Sever

Before the Cloud Computing Era

Before cloud computing, organizations and individuals had to rely on on-premises computing infrastructure. This meant they had to buy, maintain, and upgrade physical servers and other hardware to store data, host applications, and process information. Some key aspects of this era include:

1. High Infrastructure Costs
   • Companies needed to invest heavily in physical servers, networking devices, cooling systems, and power backups.
   • Hardware had to be manually installed, maintained, and upgraded.
   • IT teams were responsible for managing and securing all systems.
2. Limited Scalability
   • Expanding an IT system required purchasing new hardware, which could take weeks or months.
   • If demand suddenly dropped, companies were left with unused expensive hardware.
3. Complex Maintenance and Security
   • IT departments had to manage data security, backups, software updates, and system failures.
   • Organizations needed disaster recovery plans and backup solutions in case of server failure.
4. Access and Collaboration Challenges
   • Employees had to be on-site or connected via VPN to access company resources.
   • Remote work and global collaboration were more difficult.
5. Traditional Software Licensing
   • Companies had to buy one-time licenses for software instead of pay-as-you-go models.
   • Updates required manual installations and often disrupted workflows.

After the Cloud Computing Era

With the rise of cloud computing, IT infrastructure moved from on-premises to remote data centers, managed by cloud service providers. Businesses and individuals could now rent computing resources instead of owning them.

What is Cloud Computing?

Cloud computing is the delivery of computing services (such as servers, storage, databases, networking, software, and more) over the internet instead of hosting them on local computers or private data centers.

Key characteristics of cloud computing:

• On-Demand Self-Service → Users can access and manage computing resources anytime, without human intervention from providers.
• Broad Network Access → Services are available over the internet and can be accessed from anywhere using various devices (PCs, smartphones, tablets).
• Scalability & Elasticity → Resources can be scaled up or down automatically based on demand.
• Measured Service (Pay-as-you-go) → Users only pay for what they use.
• Resource Pooling → Cloud providers allocate resources dynamically among multiple users.

Types of Cloud Computing Services