Self-study|IT|Int|Lesson 5: Cloud computing

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Match the halves to complete the sentences

💡Everyone is talking about «the cloud», and «cloud computing» has become a popular buzz phrase on the Internet since more and more organizations are adopting the technology to enable their digital transformation.

So, today we’re going to focus on this trending topic and learn the fundamentals of cloud computing, its benefits and some key characteristics of different types of clouds.

Ready? Let’s get started!

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Read the definition and complete the gaps with the words from the box

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Watch the video (0:00–1:17) and tick the benefits that are mentioned

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Choose the correct title for each paragraph

Before reading the article, study the following words and their definitions:

Glossary

capital expense — the money a company spends to buy, maintain, or improve its fixed assets, such as buildings, vehicles, equipment, or land
data centers — a large group of networked computer servers typically used by organizations for the remote storage, processing, or distribution of large amounts of data
to run — to operate
latency — (in computing) some type of delay
infrastructure — the equipment, software, etc. that a computer system needs in order to operate and communicate with other computers
bandwidth — the maximum data transfer rate of a network or Internet connection. It measures how much data can be sent over a specific connection in a given amount of time
to provision — to supply someone with something

Read the task and describe some benefits of cloud computing. Use some of the words and phrases given below the task

You’ve just come back from 🔗Google Cloud Next 2019 (Google’s annual global conference) the main topic of which was cloud computing. Your boss has asked you to give a short presentation and explain to your co-workers what you have learned at the conference.

Keep in mind that you have some young inexperienced colleagues who are only vaguely familiar with cloud computing, so you should be ready to explain complex concepts using plain language.

Look at the picture above and explain the benefits illustrated in it.

Wordlist

1. economy of scale	3. run	5. bandwidth
2. provision	4. latency	6. infrastructure

Useful language

a capital expense
a data center
a cloud service provider

Use the voice recorder.

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Read the text and choose a subheading for each paragraph

Before reading the article, study the following words and their definitions:

Glossary

a cloud service provider — a company that delivers cloud computing services and solutions to businesses and/or individuals
infrastructure — the equipment, software, etc. that a computer system needs in order to operate and communicate with other computers
to host — to provide the computer hardware and software that allows something to exist on the internet
deployment — the use of something or someone in an effective way
cost-effective — bringing the best possible profits or advantages for the lowest possible costs
scalability — the ability of a computing process to be used or produced in a range of capabilities
the best of both worlds — a situation in which you can enjoy the advantages of two very different things at the same time

Answer the questions in the text area

1. How can a company choose a suitable model?

2. What questions should one ask themselves when choosing a cloud model?

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Listen and complete the collocations with the given words

cloud service providers
to host the cloud
deployment options
cost-effective public cloud
to increase scalability
to bring the best of both worlds
to provision resources
to eliminate the capital expense of something
to run on-site data centers
reduced network latency
a high bandwidth
to protect infrastructure from potential threats

Answer the questions about cloud computing. Use the phrases from the first exercise

1. Which cloud service model is used in your company? Do you consider it the best solution? Why(not)?

2. How do you use cloud computing at work and in your daily life?

3. Can you give some real-world examples of cloud computing?

Use the voice recorder.

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Complete the definitions of cloud computing types with the given words and phrases

Reading technique to use: Scanning

In order to do this task properly, use scanning to read the text below quickly and find specific information.

Before scanning, go through the four sentences given in the task and find some keywords. Then, while scanning, keep the keywords in mind and look for them in the text.

Read the text about cloud computing adoption to better understand the scope of its popularity. Then mark the sentences as True or False

How cloud computing adoption varies across industries

Сloud computing is gaining popularity across a variety of industries for basic business support functions.

Regulated industries:

Insurance: Private clouds are preferred because they’re more secure than public clouds.

Banking: In the banking industry, the main concern is that a cloud environment is not secure enough. This is why this particular industry uses the cloud for administrative functions like email, file sharing and sharing of notes.

Government: While opportunities to use cloud computing in a variety of ways do exist, it’s also misunderstood. Today, the biggest opportunities are in public cloud computing, but many in this industry fear security problems.

Unregulated industries:

Retail: In this industry, cloud implementations have been mostly IaaS or PaaS solutions. Security, availability, and vendor maturity are all aspects that retailers consider when deciding which functions they want to be deployed from the cloud.

Media: Audiences today can access content of any form in a variety of ways. This is why service providers and application developers are exploring a cloud-based vision way to enable multiscreen entertainment.

Manufacturing: This industry uses the cloud for logistics, sales support functions, HR, product development and life cycle management, as well as some manufacturing operations.

You can read the full article 🔗here.

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Complete the descriptions with the cloud service models

Check how the difference between these models can be easily illustrated so that even those who are not IT experts can understand it

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Listen to the speaker talking about cloud computing and artificial intelligence and complete the summary

Over the last decade, cloud computing has stopped being a concept and has gradually turned into something that has completely «overrun» our digital lives. From mail services to storing intricate workflows, we rely on the cloud to access our personal and professional data.

The first wave of cloud computing was all about testing the waters, with pilot projects and a cautious approach to cloud enablement. One of the key players that launched this wave in 2006 was Amazon Web Services, with its simple and basic computer facilities.

The next big thing in the cloud was Infrastructure as a Service where customers could provision virtual machines and storage all by themselves. The third wave of cloud was centered around data. From relational databases to big data to graph databases, cloud providers offered data platform services covering a wide range of offerings.

The next wave that is driving the growth of cloud computing is artificial intelligence. With the incorporation of artificial intelligence, there has been an inexorable rise in self-healing, self-managing, self-securing, self-repairing, and self-optimizing. AI’s growing role in the management of IT, data, applications, services, and other cloud infrastructure stems from its ability to automate and accelerate many tasks more scalably, predictably, rapidly, and efficiently than manual methods alone. Artificial intelligence technology brings out a unique possibility to transform the next generation of cloud computing platforms.

Match the questions to the answers

Урок Homework Курс

Introduction
Cloud computing
Benefits of cloud computing
Top benefits
Types of clouds
How to choose a cloud
Homework 1
Homework 2
Homework 3