A Complementary Approach to Grid and Cloud Distributed Computing Paradigms

Background

The precise definition of cloud computing varies widely and depends on the context because clouds are not mature enough and they are in the evolution stages. First, we have some explanation about the term cloud. Since the birth of TCP/IP, people have been drawing TCP/IP Network on white boards like cloud metaphor. This metaphor resonates for the same reason the “electron cloud” is a useful metaphor for the behavior of electrons. The cloud represents a black-box, we don't have to know its inner workings, just its behaviors or interfaces are needed by users.

On the other hand, cloud computing is the ability to draw IT resources from an internal, external or third-party source using either Internet-based or local-area infrastructure. The cloud is essentially the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model expanded to include hardware-driven functions like storage and processing.