In these cloud computing environments, it adding resources to the “cloud” was easy-add another server to the rack and configure it to become part of the bigger system.Īs technologies and hypervisors improved upon reliably sharing and delivering resources, many enterprising companies decided to carve up the bigger environment. To visualize that environment, technologists used terms like “utility computing” and “cloud computing,” since the sum of the parts seemed a nebulous blob of computing resources you could then segment out as needed (like telecommunications companies did in the 1990s). The cloud is bornīy installing and configuring a piece of software called a hypervisor across multiple physical nodes, a system would present the environment’s entire resources as though those resources were in a single physical node. Because of that shift, the most basic understanding of “cloud computing” was born online. The market shifted from a “These servers are expensive let’s split them up” belief to a “These servers are cheap let’s figure out how to combine them” mentality. But they ran into a different kind of problem: One server isn’t enough to provide the necessary resources. Obviously, this kind of environment saves on infrastructure costs and minimizes the amount of actual hardware you would need to meet your company’s needs.Īs the costs of server hardware slowly came down, more users could afford to purchase their own dedicated servers. With virtualization, you can take those 13 distinct systems and split them up between two physical nodes. What did this look like in practice? Let’s say your company required 13 physical systems to run your sites and applications. Servers were virtualized into shared hosting environments, virtual private servers, and virtual dedicated dervers using the same types of functionality provided by the VM OS in the 1950s. One of the ways that happened was through-you guessed it-virtualization. As more and more people expressed the demand to be online, the costs had to come out of the stratosphere and into reality. If you were in the market to buy servers 10 or 20 years ago, you know that the costs of physical hardware-while not at the same level as the mainframes of the 1950s-were pretty outrageous. As the Internet became more accessible, the next logical step was to take virtualization online. Meanwhile, virtualization for PC-based systems started in earnest. This change allowed telecommunications companies to shift traffic as necessary, leading to better network balance and more control over bandwidth usage. Rather than building out physical infrastructure to allow more users to have their own connections, telecommunications companies provided users with shared access to the same physical infrastructure. In the 1990s, telecommunications companies that historically only offered single dedicated point-to-point data connections began offering virtualized private network connections-with the same service quality as dedicated services at a reduced cost. By enabling shared mainframe access, an organization would get a better return on its investment in this sophisticated piece of technology. It became practice to allow multiple users to share access to the same data storage layer and CPU power from any station. Multiple users were able to access the mainframe via “dumb terminals”-stations with the sole function of facilitating access to the mainframes.ĭue to the cost of buying and maintaining mainframes, an organization wouldn’t be able to afford a mainframe for each user. The mainframe’s colossal hardware infrastructure was installed in what could be called a “server room” (since the room would generally only be able to hold a single mainframe). The humble beginnings of cloudīelieve it or not, the modern day idea of “ cloud computing” dates back to the 1950s, when large-scale mainframes were made available to schools and corporations. The concept of “cloud computing” has been around much longer than you think.
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