Revision summary
Cloud computing delivers servers, storage, and software as a metered network service. IaaS rents infrastructure, PaaS rents a build platform, SaaS rents finished applications. Deployment can be public, private, or hybrid; governments use community clouds such as MeghRaj-type GI Cloud. Advantages are elasticity, shift from capex to opex, remote access, and better machine utilisation. Security, lock-in, and data sovereignty are the price of a sloppy contract.
Model answer
Introduction
Cloud computing is the delivery of computing — servers, storage, databases, and software — as a metered service over a network, instead of each office owning a locked room of machines. The user rents capacity that can swell on a festival day and shrink on a quiet Tuesday. For a State or a firm, the cloud is a utility like power: you pay for what you draw, if the pipe and the contract are sound.
Body
What it is
- A shared pool of configurable resources (networks, servers, storage, applications) that can be provisioned rapidly with minimal hand-holding by the provider.
- Access is typically via the internet or a dedicated government network; the physical machines sit in large data centres, not under the user’s desk.
- Deployment may be public (shared provider), private (one organisation’s cloud), or hybrid (sensitive data in, burst capacity out).
Services (the usual stack)
- IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service): raw virtual machines, storage, and networks — the user still installs the OS and apps (example pattern: renting compute like a digital godown).
- PaaS (Platform as a Service): a ready platform to build and run applications without managing the underlying servers.
- SaaS (Software as a Service): finished applications in the browser or app — mail, office suites, CRM — where the provider patches and hosts.
- Related windows: storage as a service, disaster-recovery as a service, and government community clouds (MeghRaj / GI Cloud-type) that try to keep citizen data in audited Indian facilities.
Advantages
- Elasticity and speed: a portal can add servers for a result day without a two-year hardware tender for peak load that then sits idle.
- Capex to opex: small departments and start-ups avoid a large upfront data-centre bill.
- Professional security patches and uptime, if the contract and CERT-In-grade incident rules are real — not automatic merely because the vendor logo is famous.
- Remote access and collaboration: the same file for a district officer on tour and a secretariat desk.
- Greener utilisation: shared machines run hotter in use and colder in waste than thousands of half-empty office servers.
- Innovation: students and firms can try a model or an app without buying a rack.
- Limits belong on the same list: connectivity, vendor lock-in, data localisation and sovereignty, and a misconfigured bucket that leaks. The advantages hold when procurement, encryption, and exit clauses are written before the first workload moves.
Flow diagram
flowchart TD U[User department firm] --> N[Network] N --> C[Cloud data centre] C --> I[IaaS machines] C --> P[PaaS build] C --> S[SaaS apps] I --> A[Elastic cheaper IT] P --> A S --> A
Conclusion
Cloud computing rents shared compute and software over a network. Services are IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS, in public, private, or hybrid form. Advantages are elasticity, lower capex, remote access, and faster experiments — provided security, sovereignty, and an exit path are in the contract.
Quick related
Students also ask
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What do you mean by 'Technology Transfer'? How far can this be useful in disseminating complex technology? Explain.
Next question in the 2019 paper (Q20). View answer →
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Is the cloud just ‘someone else’s computer’?
Physically yes, in a data centre. Economically it is a shared, elastic utility with a service contract, not a one-off PC.
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Does moving to the cloud automatically secure citizen data?
No. Encryption, access control, localisation rules, and incident response still decide safety.
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