What does cloud computing compared to?

There has been always a buzz that cloud computing is similar to Grid computing & Utility computing.
One can say that every thing which look similar doesn’t always based on the same platform. Grid computing and utility computing, though sharing several attributes with cloud computing, are merely subsets of the latter. They may also be considered as implementations of cloud computing, rather than being different names for the same technology.

Cloud and Grid computing is often considered to be a similar concept with the structure and the utility. Basically Cloud computing services or Cloud web hosting and Grid computing is the relatively new concepts in the world of computing. Both grid and cloud computing are networks which abstract processing tasks. Abstraction masks the actual complex processes taking place within a system, and presents a user with a simplified interface with which they can interact easily. The idea is to be able to make the system more user-friendly whilst retaining all the benefits of more complicated processes.

Being the new concept in the world of computing both the cloud computing and grid computing are generally misunderstood as the synonyms of each other, which is in fact is not the case. We all know that the term “Cloud Computing” is relatively new to the Technology buzz. Cloud computing is the use of a 3rd party service(Web Services) to perform computing needs. Here Cloud depicts Internet . With cloud computing, companies can scale up to massive capacities in an instant without having to invest in new infrastructure. Cloud computing is benefit to small and medium-sized businesses. Basically consumers use what they need on the Internet and pay only for what they use.

There are many similarities present in Grid computing and Cloud Computing. Its very necessary while comparing both of them to understand each concept nicely. From the above explaination the concept of Cloud computing has been made clear now its the time to get familiar with the term “Grid Computing”. It is noteworthy that the nomenclature of both grid and utility computing is derived from the electricity system. The first term originated from Ian Foster’s and Carl Kesselman’s seminal work, “The Grid: Blueprint for a new computing infrastructure” (2004), as a metaphor for making computer power as easy to access as an electric power grid. “Utility computing” originates from the process of making IT infrastructure and resources available as a metered service similar to a traditional public utility like electricity. Grid computing can be defined as the use of computer resources from multiple administrative domains to reach a common goal. It can be considered as a distributed system with non-interactive workloads involving a large number of files, yet more loosely coupled, heterogeneous, and geographically dispersed as compared to cluster computing.