Related Technologies - Big Data: Related Technologies, Challenges and Future Prospects - page 12

This concept mainly evolves from some mixed concepts such as virtualized public
computing and infrastructure. The key components of cloud computing is illustrated
in Fig. 2.1 .
Services provided by cloud computing can be described by three service
models and three deployment models. Such a combination has many important
features, including self-service as required, wide network access, resource pool,
rapidity, elasticity, and service management, thus meeting the requirements of many
applications. Therefore, cloud computing will be instrumental for big data analysis
and applications.

2.1.2 Relationship Between Cloud Computing and Big Data

Cloud computing is closely related to big data. The key components of cloud
computing are shown in Fig. 2.1 . Big data is the object of the computation operation
and stresses the storage capacity and computing capacity of a cloud server. The main
objective of cloud computing is to use huge computing resources and computing
capacities under concentrated management, so as to provide applications with
resource sharing at a granularity and provide big data applications with computing
capacity. The development of cloud computing provides solutions for the storage
and processing of big data. On the other hand, the emergence of big data also
accelerates the development of cloud computing. The distributed storage technology
based on cloud computing allows effective management of big data; the parallel
computing capacity by virtue of cloud computing can improve the efficiency of
acquiring and analyzing big data.
Even though there are many overlapped concepts and technologies in cloud
computing and big data, they differ in the following two major aspects. First,
the concepts are different in the sense that cloud computing transforms the IT
architecture while big data influences business decision-making, while big data
depends on cloud computing as the fundamental infrastructure for smooth operation.
Second, big data and cloud computing have different target customers. Cloud
computing is a technology and product targeting Chief Information Officers (CIO)
as an advanced IT solution. Big data is a product targeting Chief Executive Officers
(CEO) focusing on business operations. Since the decision makers may directly
feel the pressure from market competition, they must defeat business opponents
in more competitive ways. With the advances of big data and cloud computing,
these two technologies are certainly and increasingly entwine with each other. Cloud
computing, with functions similar to those of computers and operating systems,
provides system-level resources; big data operates in the upper level supported by
cloud computing and provides functions similar to those of database and efficient
data processing capacity. As Kissinger, President of EMC, said, the application of
big data must be based on cloud computing.
The evolution of big data was driven by the rapid growth of application demands
and cloud computing developed from virtualization technologies. Therefore, cloud