Cloud Computing: Future of the Past

The growth pattern of mobile devices and wireless network technologies leads to revolutionized communication markets with constant advancements (e.g., partly realized 4G and yet-awaited 5G wireless networks, content centric networking, and mobile cloud computing). From the thin-client paradigm of the early computing history, where the bulk of the computing power was on the server side, we have witnessed a rapid transformation to powerful mobile end-user devices with ubiquitous connectivity. The cloud-computing paradigm is now promising to bridge those two ends in order to combine the best of both worlds. This chapter presents: 1) basic concepts of cloud computing in examining the different perspectives of stakeholders in the cloud market, 2) survey of existing approaches and solutions, 3) applications of cloud computing, 4) architectural approaches to cloud computing, including traditional and mobile cloud architectures, and 5) an overview of the related Software-Defined Networking and Network Function Virtualization concepts. 1. MOTIVATION TO USE CLOUD COMPUTING The main motivation for the use of cloud computing instead of self-hosted infrastructures, hardware and software is that it brings down the costs, offers increased stability and is accessible from everywhere. Companies do not have to buy expensive hardware or worry about carrying out heavy tasks; they simply rent the hardware or allocate the computation tasks to machines in the cloud. After finishing their computation, they no longer have to pay for it (Agrawal, Abbadi, Das, & Elmore, 2011). However, reduction in costs is not the only driving force of cloud computation. It is envisioned that cloud computing will drastically change the information technology by offering businesses the opportunity to attain more gains in much faster and more effective ways. We can summarize those gains as follows: Manzoor Ahmed Khan Technische Universität Berlin, Germany Fikret Sivrikaya Technische Universität Berlin, Germany