Cloud Glossary
The capability of a computer system to imitate human intelligence. Using math and logic, the computer system simulates the reasoning that humans use to learn from new information and make decisions.
Tools that extract data from business systems and integrate it into a repository, such as a data warehouse, where it can be analysed. Analytics tools range from spreadsheets with statistical functions to sophisticated data mining and predictive modelling tools.
Tools that process large amounts of unstructured data in books, journals, documents, health records, images, files, email, video etc., to help you discover meaningful trends and identify new business opportunities.
A metaphor for a global network, first used in reference to the telephone network and now commonly used to represent the Internet.
A configuration that’s set up between a private cloud and a public cloud. If 100 per cent of the resource capacity in a private cloud is used, then overflow traffic is directed to the public cloud using cloud bursting.
A delivery model for computing resources in which various servers, applications, data and other resources are integrated and provided as a service over the Internet. Resources are often virtualised.
There are three main cloud computing types, and more are evolving: software-as-a-service (SaaS) for web-based applications, infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) for Internet-based access to storage and computing power, and platform-as-a-service (PaaS) which gives developers the tools to build and host web applications.
A company that provides a cloud-based platform, infrastructure, application or storage services, usually for a fee.
A service that lets you store data by transferring it over the Internet or another network to an offsite storage system maintained by a third party.
Groups of networked computers that act together to perform large tasks, such as analysing huge sets of data and weather modelling. Cloud computing lets you assemble and use vast computer grids for specific time periods and purposes, paying only for your usage, and saving the time and expense of purchasing and deploying the necessary resources yourself.
A type of partitioning that lets you divide your large database into smaller databases, which can be managed faster and more easily across servers.
The union of people, process and technology to enable continuous delivery of value to customers. The practice of DevOps brings development and operations teams together to speed software delivery and make products more secure and reliable.
The ability to dynamically provision and de-provision computer processing, memory and storage resources to meet changing demands without worrying about capacity planning and engineering for peak usage.
A cloud that combines public and private clouds, bound together by technology that allows data and applications to be shared between them. A hybrid cloud gives businesses greater flexibility to scale up and down, and offers more deployment options.
A virtualised computer environment delivered as a service over the Internet by a provider. Infrastructure can include servers, network equipment and software. Also called hardware as a service (HaaS).
The process of using mathematical models to predict outcomes versus relying on a set of instructions. This is made possible by identifying patterns within data, building an analytical model and using it to make predictions and decisions. Machine learning bears similarity to how humans learn, in that increased experience can increase accuracy.
Help data scientists identify patterns within sets of data. Selected based upon the desired outcome – predicting values, identifying anomalies, finding structure or determining categories – machine learning algorithms are commonly divided into those used for supervised learning and those used for unsupervised learning.
The Microsoft cloud platform is a growing collection of integrated services, including infrastructure as a service (IaaS) and platform as a service (PaaS) offerings.
Software that lies between an operating system and the applications running on it. It enables communication and data management for distributed applications, such as cloud-based applications, so the data in one database can be accessed through another database, for example. Examples of middleware are web servers, application servers and content management systems.
NoSQL is a set of non-relational database technologies – developed with unique capabilities to handle high volumes of unstructured and changing data. NoSQL technology offers dynamic schema, horizontal scaling and the ability to store and retrieve data as columns, graphs, key-values or documents.
A computing platform (operating system and other services) delivered as a service over the Internet by a provider. An example is an application development environment that you can subscribe to and use immediately. Azure offers PaaS.
Services offered over the Internet or over a private internal network to only select users, not the general public
Services offered over the public Internet and available to anyone who wants to purchase them.
An application delivered over the Internet by a provider. Also called a hosted application. The application doesn’t have to be purchased, installed or run on users’ computers. SaaS providers were previously referred to as ASPs (application service providers).
A computing model in which the cloud provider provisions and manages servers. It enables developers to spend more time building apps and less time managing infrastructure.
A computer file (typically called an image) that behaves like an actual computer. Multiple virtual machines can run simultaneously on the same physical computer.
The act of creating a virtual rather than a physical version of a computing environment, including computer hardware, operating system, storage devices and so forth.
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