CLOUD COMPUTERS

Cloud Computers

[Name of the Institute]Cloud Computers

Introduction

Gmail cloud service allows one to store important documents and files and share them in cloud storage from any computer device having an internet connection. These files can be picture, video, text, sound files and so forth. It allows one to access files from any location through his phone, computer or tablet. It can be used for various purposes such as collaborating or advertising. The type of cloud service that Gmail uses is Software as a Service (SaaS). SaaS is discussed in detail in subsequent section of this report.

Discussion

Three types of Cloud Service

SaaS

SaaS stands for Software as a Service. It refers to functionally independent, prebuilt, universally available and vertically integrated applications used by and delivered to customers as services (Mahmood & Hill, 2011, p. 7). These applications may include database processing, email system, payroll processing, human resource management and so forth. At times, these services are available to customers free of charge, e.g. Gmail services where photographs, email attachments, video, music files and emails themselves are stored on a server that is remotely accessible.

PaaS

PaaS stands for Platform as a Service. PaaS refers to product and software development tools that clients lease in order to create and deploy their own applications according to their requirements. These tools include database servers, middleware and application servers. Google App Engine is an example of PaaS providers and products (Mahmood & Hill, 2011, p. 8).

IaaS

IaaS stands for Infrastructure as a service. IaaS refers to hardware devices such as storage, network devices and virtualized servers. IaaS allows several applications that are owned by different consumers of cloud to share transparently underlying physical resources such as storage and servers (Mahmood & Hill, 2011, p. 9).

Costs involved in running the software or operating system

The cost factors associated with running operating systems and software ...