The Cloud-Based Demand-Driven Supply Chain

CHAPTER 2Introduction to Cloud Computing

Cloud or cloud computing is a term used to describe the use and outsourcing of information technology (IT). In such a usage model, organizations shift away from constructing and utilizing their data centers to leveraging services of a public cloud provider. There are instances where organizations will build and consume a private cloud, which is where IT resources are deployed internally and are available to only that organization. Cloud represents one of the most significant paradigm changes in recent computing history. Organizations that are leveraging this wave of technological advancements will have competitive advantages over those companies that choose not to leverage cloud. The first use of the term cloud computing is attributed to Professor Ramnath Chellapa, who described it as follows:

Cloud‐computing is a dynamic computing paradigm where the boundaries of computing are determined by rationale provided by technological, economic, organizational and security requirements. (Chellapa 1997)

Former United States Federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra helped form a cloud‐first strategy for reforming the U.S. federal government's use of IT, and he describes cloud computing as follows:

For those of you not familiar with cloud computing, here is a brief explanation. There was a time when every household, town, or village had its own water well. Today, shared public utilities give us access to clean water by simply turning on ...