Cloud Application (Cloud App) definition & meaning
A Cloud Application (Cloud App) is an internet-based software where some or all of the processing and storage are processed in the cloud. Rather than being hosted on a local server, a cloud application refers to any software that is deployed in a cloud environment, which can be a private cloud, public cloud, or hybrid cloud. Mostly, cloud applications are located in physical servers in a data center, which is overseen by a cloud services infrastructure provider. Cloud applications have a huge selection of use cases, including emails, file storage, file sharing, data entry, word processing, inventory management, customer relationship management, video conferencing, financial accounting, data collection, etc. Users can interact with cloud applications via clients, such as a web browser or a mobile application.
What is a cloud-native application?
Cloud-native application is software that utilizes the flexibility, scalability, and resilience of cloud computing. The cloud-native is a modern approach that benefits from tools and techniques popular among software developers to create applications for the cloud environments, unlike traditional architectures suited to on-premise solutions. Cloud Native Computing Foundation defines cloud-native technologies as solutions that empower organizations to build and run scalable applications in modern, dynamic environments such as public, private, and hybrid clouds. According to the definition, cloud-native app development includes containers, service meshes, microservices, immutable infrastructure, and declarative APIs.
What are cloud application platform?
Cloud application platform is a service that provides the relevant infrastructure including the dependencies such as frameworks, libraries or any other components to the developer to run the applications properly. Examples of cloud application platforms are Heroku, Back4app, Elastic Beanstalk, Google App Engine, Firebase, Engine Yard, Open Shift, Netfly.
What is cloud application integration?
Cloud application integration is bringing different aspects of various cloud and local resources together to create a single environment that allows administrators to access and manage applications, data, services, and systems easily. Cloud application integration allows organizations to employ resources and services with cloud computing. It is a time-consuming process and raises the risk of error. However, cloud integration platforms are helping organizations to overcome the integration process. Some of the most popular cloud application integration platforms are, JitterBit, Operational Hub, SaaS, SAP, SAC, and Zapier. There are two methods for integration direct integration and mediated integration.
What is cloud application security?
Cloud application security refers to securing data information across the cloud environment. As big organizations migrate their data into the cloud infrastructure, cloud application security became a top priority in recent years. Cloud application security includes application-level policies, tools, technologies, and rules to maintain visibility, protect applications against attacks, and limit access to authorized users only. It includes three components; Cloud security posture management (CSPM) that focuses on misconfigurations, compliance and governance, and securing the control plane, Cloud Workload Protection Platform (CWPP), which oversees runtime protection and continuous vulnerability management of cloud containers, and Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) that focuses on improving visibility across endpoints to see who accesses the data and how it is used.
What are cloud application categories?
There are three types of cloud applications.
SaaS (Software-as-a-Service), is the most popular form of cloud computing. SaaS includes the web application, the underlying IT infrastructure, and the platform. It also comes with full support for the system and the application. SaaS is ideal for organizations that don’t want to take responsibility for handling the maintenance of infrastructure, platforms, or software. It eliminates the need to purchase anything permanently and reduces the upfront costs for the users. The most popular examples of SaaS are Google G Suite, which includes Google Workspace, Gmail, and Google Drive, or Microsoft Office 365.
IaaS (Infrastructure-as-a-Service), solutions only provide the IT infrastructure and infrastructure support in the cloud, allowing the user to handle the middleware, which includes the software adding features to the operating system to enable and simplify programming, the applications, and the application support. The infrastructure includes storage, virtualization, network, and servers. IaaS allows users to access the infrastructure via an API or a dashboard. The most popular examples of IaaS are Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Compute Engine, a sub-product of the Google Cloud Platform.
PaaS (Platform-as-a-Service), is similar to IaaS, but in PaaS, the vendor also provides the operating system and the middleware, allowing the user to focus only on developing, running, and managing the application. The vendor is responsible for the infrastructure and the software they provide, which eliminates the need for its users to hire more professionals to handle these tasks. The most popular PaaS solutions are Google App Engine, which is also a sub-product of Google Cloud Platform and RingCentral, a full business phone solution through the cloud.