KCA101: FUNDAMENTAL OF COMPUTERS & EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES

UNIT-IV
Block chain: Introduction, overview, features, limitations and application areas fundamentals
of Block Chain.
Crypto currencies: Introduction , Applications and use cases
Cloud Computing: It nature and benefits, AWS, Google, Microsoft & IBM Services

Blockchain:

Definition 1-The blockchain is a distributed database of records of all transactions or digital

event that have been executed and shared among participating parties. Each transaction verified
by the majority of participants of the system. It contains every single record of each transaction.

BitCoin is the most popular cryptocurrency an example of the blockchain.

Blockchain is the backbone Technology of Digital CryptoCurrency BitCoin. Blockchain

Technology first came to light when a person or Group of individuals name ‘Satoshi
Nakamoto’ published a white paper on “BitCoin: A peer to peer electronic cash system” in
2008.

Blockchain Technology Records Transaction in Digital Ledger which is distributed over the
Network thus making it incorruptible. Anything of value like Land Assets, Cars, etc. can be
recorded on Blockchain as a Transaction.

Definition 2-Blockchain is a shared, immutable ledger that facilitates the process of recording
transactions and tracking assets in a business network. An asset can be tangible (a house, car,
cash, land) or intangible (intellectual property, patents, copyrights, branding). Virtually
anything of value can be tracked and traded on a blockchain network, reducing risk and cutting
costs for all involved.

Definition 3-it is a network with peers capable of doing transactions without any centralized
authority.
For example, healthcare can now be revolutionized to store patients’ data on the blockchain.
This way, patients do not have to carry their own documents as everything will be stored on
the network and click away. The patient can also share their data to research and help improve
research on many critical illnesses. Also, it solves the counterfeit drug problem — helping both
patients and drug companies.
Why blockchain is important: Business runs on information. The faster it’s received and the
more accurate it is, the better. Blockchain is ideal for delivering that information because it
provides immediate, shared and completely transparent information stored on an immutable
ledger that can be accessed only by permissioned network members. A blockchain network can
track orders, payments, accounts, production and much more. And because members share a
single view of the truth, you can see all details of a transaction end to end, giving you greater
confidence, as well as new efficiencies and opportunities.
Key elements of a blockchain

1. Distributed ledger technology

All network participants have access to the distributed ledger and its immutable record
of transactions. With this shared ledger, transactions are recorded only once,
eliminating the duplication of effort that’s typical of traditional business networks.
2. Immutable records
No participant can change or tamper with a transaction after it’s been recorded to the
shared ledger. If a transaction record includes an error, a new transaction must be added
to reverse the error, and both transactions are then visible.
3. Smart contracts
To speed transactions, a set of rules — called a smart contract — is stored on the
blockchain and executed automatically. A smart contract can define conditions for
corporate bond transfers, include terms for travel insurance to be paid and much more.

How blockchain works

As each transaction occurs, it is recorded as a “block” of data

Those transactions show the movement of an asset that can be tangible (a product) or intangible
(intellectual). The data block can record the information of your choice: who, what, when,
where, how much and even the condition — such as the temperature of a food shipment.
Each block is connected to the ones before and after it
These blocks form a chain of data as an asset moves from place to place or ownership changes
hands. The blocks confirm the exact time and sequence of transactions, and the blocks link
securely together to prevent any block from being altered or a block being inserted between
two existing blocks.
Transactions are blocked together in an irreversible chain: a blockchain
Each additional block strengthens the verification of the previous block and hence the entire
blockchain. This renders the blockchain tamper-evident, delivering the key strength of
immutability. This removes the possibility of tampering by a malicious actor — and builds a
ledger of transactions you and other network members can trust.

Example
One of the famous use of Blockchain is Bitcoin. The bitcoin is a cryptocurrency and is used
to exchange digital assets online. Bitcoin uses cryptographic proof instead of third-party trust
for two parties to execute transactions over the internet. Each transaction protects through
digitalsignature.

Why blockchain?
Operations often waste effort on duplicate record keeping and third-party validations. Record-
keeping systems can be vulnerable to fraud and cyberattacks. Limited transparency can slow
data verification. And with the arrival of IoT, transaction volumes have exploded. All of this
slows business, drains the bottom line — and means we need a better way. Enter blockchain.
Benefits of blockchain
1. Greater trust
With blockchain, as a member of a members-only network, you can rest assured that you are
receiving accurate and timely data, and that your confidential blockchain records will be shared
only with network members to whom you have specifically granted access.
2. Greater security
Consensus on data accuracy is required from all network members, and all validated
transactions are immutable because they are recorded permanently. No one, not even a system
administrator, can delete a transaction.
3. More efficiencies
With a distributed ledger that is shared among members of a network, time-wasting record
reconciliations are eliminated. And to speed transactions, a set of rules — called a smart
contract — can be stored on the blockchain and executed automatically.
4. Transparent
Because every node or participant in Blockchain has a copy of the Blockchain data, they have
access to all transaction data. They themselves can verify the identities without the need for
mediators.
5. Time-saving
No central Authority verification needed for settlements making the process faster and cheaper.
Cost-saving
A Blockchain network reduces expenses in several ways. No need for third-party verification.
Participants can share assets directly. Intermediaries are reduced. Transaction efforts are
minimized as every participant has a copy of shared ledger.

Features of Block chain

1. Immutability
There are some exciting blockchain features but among them “Immutability” is undoubtedly
one of the key features of blockchain technology.

Immutability means something that can’t be changed or altered. This is one of the top
blockchain features that help to ensure that the technology will remain as it is – a permanent,
unalterable network. Blockchain technology works slightly different than the typical banking
system. Instead of relying on centralized authorities, it ensures the blockchain features through
a collection of nodes.
Every node on the system has a copy of the digital ledger. To add a transaction every node
needs to check its validity. If the majority thinks it’s valid, then it’s added to the ledger. This
promotes transparency and makes it corruption-proof.

So, without the consent from the majority of nodes, no one can add any transaction blocks to
the ledger.

Another fact, that backs up the list of key blockchain features is that, once the transaction blocks
get added on the ledger, no one can just go back and change it. Thus, any user on the network
won’t be able to edit, delete or update it.

2. Decentralized
The network is decentralized meaning it doesn’t have any governing authority or a single
person looking after the framework. Rather a group of nodes maintains the network making it
decentralized.

This is one of the key features of blockchain technology that works perfectly. Let me make it
simpler. Blockchain puts us users in a straightforward position. As the system doesn’t require
any governing authority, we can directly access it from the web and store our assets there.
You can store anything starting from cryptocurrencies, important documents, contracts or other
valuable digital assets. And with the help of blockchain, you’ll have direct control over them
using your private key. So, you see the decentralized structure is giving the common people
their power and rights back on their assets.

3. Enhanced Security
As it gets rid of the need for a central authority, no one can just simply change any
characteristics of the network for their benefit. Using encryption ensures another layer of
security for the system.

But how does it offer so much security compared to already existing techs?

Well, it’s extremely secure because it offers a special disguise – Cryptography.

Added with decentralization, cryptography lays another layer of protection for users.
Cryptography is a rather complex mathematical algorithm that acts as a firewall for attacks.

Every information on the blockchain is hashed cryptographically. In simple terms, the

information on the network hides the true nature of the data. For this process, any input data
gets through a mathematical algorithm that produces a different kind of value, but the length is
always fixed.
You could think of it as a unique identification for every data. All the blocks in the ledger come
with a unique hash of its own and contain the hash of the previous block. So, changing or trying
to tamper with the data will mean changing all the hash IDs. And that’s kind of impossible.

You’ll have a private key to access the data but will have a public key to make transactions.

4. Distributed Ledgers
Usually, a public ledger will provide every information about a transaction and the participant.
It’s all out in the open, nowhere to hide. Although the case for private or federated blockchain is
a bit different. But still, in those cases, many people can see what really goes on in the ledger.
That’s because the ledger on the network is maintained by all other users on the system. This
distributed computational power across the computers to ensure a better outcome.

This is the reason it’s considered one of the blockchain essential features. The result will always
be a higher efficient ledger system that can take on the traditional ones.

5. Consensus
Every blockchain thrives because of the consensus algorithms. The architecture is cleverly
designed, and consensus algorithms are at the core of this architecture. Every blockchain has a
consensus to help the network make decisions.
In simple terms, the consensus is a decision-making process for the group of nodes active on
the network. Here, the nodes can come to an agreement quickly and relatively faster. When
millions of nodes are validating a transaction, a consensus is absolutely necessary for a system
to run smoothly. You could think of it as kind of a voting system, where the majority wins, and
the minority has to support it.

The consensus is responsible for the network being trustless. Nodes might not trust each other,
but they can trust the algorithms that run at the core of it. That’s why every decision on the
network is a winning scenario for the blockchain. It’s one of the benefits of blockchain features.
6. Faster Settlement
Traditional banking systems are quite slow. Sometimes it can take days to process a transaction
after finalizing all settlements. It also can be corrupted quite easily. Blockchain offers a faster
settlement compared to traditional banking systems. This way a user can transfer money
relatively faster, which saves a lot of time in the long run.

These blockchain features make life easier for foreign workers and help to understand Why
Blockchain is Important. Many people travel to another country in search of a better life and
job and leave families behind. However, sending money to their families overseas takes a lot
of time and could become fatal in times of need.
Now, blockchains are way too fast, and they can easily use it to send money to their loved ones.
Another fun fact is the smart contract system. This can allow making faster settlements for any
kind of contract. This is one of the best benefits of blockchain features to this day. And with
the third party out of the way, people can send money with a minimal fee.

Limitation of Blockchain Technology

Blockchain technology has enormous potential in creating trustless, decentralized applications.

But it is not perfect. There are certain barriers which make the blockchain technology not the
right choice and unusable for mainstream application. limitations of blockchain technology
are :

Lack of Awareness

There is a lot of discussion about blockchain, but people do not know the true value of
blockchain and how they could implement it in different situations.
Limited availability of technical talent

Today, there are a lot of developers available who can do a lot of different things in every field.
But in the blockchain technology, there are not so many developers available who have
specialized expertise in blockchain technology. Hence, the lack of developers is a hindrance to
developing anything on the blockchain.

Immutable

In immutable, we cannot make any modifications to any of the records. It is very helpful if
you want to keep the integrity of a record and make sure that nobody ever tampers with it. But
immutability also has a drawback.

We can understand this, in the case, when you want to make any revisions, or want to go back
and make any reversals. For example, you have processed payment and need to go back and
make an amendment to change that payment.

Key Management

As we know, blockchain is built on cryptography, which implies that there are different keys,
such as public keys and private keys. When you are dealing with a private key, then you are
also running the risk that somebody may lose access to your private key. It happens a lot in the
early days when bitcoin wasn't worth that much. People would just collect a lot of bitcoin, and
then suddenly forgot what the key was, and those may be worth millions of dollars today.

Scalability

Blockchain like bitcoin has consensus mechanisms which require every participating node to
verify the transaction. It limits the number of transactions a blockchain network can process.
So bitcoin was not developed to do the large scale volumes of transactions that many of the
other institutions are doing. Currently, bitcoin can process a maximum of seven transactions
per second.

Consensus Mechanism

In the blockchain, we know that a block can be created in every 10 minutes. It is because every
transaction made must ensure that every block in the blockchain network must reach a common
consensus. Depending on the network size and the number of blocks or nodes involved in a
blockchain, the back-and-forth communications involved to attain a consensus can consume a
considerable amount of time and resources.
Disadvantages of Blockchain Technology

1. High implementation costs. Just as this technology represents low costs for users,
unfortunately, it also implies high implementation costs for companies, which delays
its mass adoption and implementation.
2. Inefficiency. It is inefficient to have several network users validating the same
operations, since only one will receive the reward derived from this mining process.
This process, and for the same reason of many users doing the same thing, also implies
a huge waste of energy, not very environmentally friendly technology.
3. Private keys. Excessive security can also be an Achilles heel, in the case of private keys,
as has been documented on many occasions, having lost them it becomes almost
impossible to recover these keys, causing a problem, mainly, for all those holders of
cryptographic values.
4. Storage. As the number of users grows, the number of operations that will be integrated
into the blocks to be stored will also grow, so the space required will also have to
increase inside the miners’ computers, eventually exceeding the capacity of the hard
disks.
5. Unemployment. The lack of need for intermediaries will cause that, as Blockchain
technology is adopted and implemented, all these intermediation sectors for the
validation of payments and processes will necessarily be reduced to the point of
disappearing and, with it, the jobs required for it will disappear.

APPLICATIONS OF BLOCK CHAIN

1. Supply Chain Management

Supply Chain Management currently suffers from a lot of problems. For example, the biggest
problem in SCM is product counterfeit. By using blockchain for supply chain, products can be
traced accurately, removing any counterfeit possible. It also improves transparency and ensures
that there is a cost reduction on the whole part. Improvements in SCM also mean an
improvement in different industries, including healthcare, food industry, etc.
2. Healthcare
Healthcare also benefits from the likes of blockchain. Right now, there is no way for healthcare
specialists to look at one single version of a person’s healthcare report. With blockchain for
healthcare, it will now become possible for patients to have their reports stored on blockchain
– which can be retrieved later on.
This way, doctors can work on a single report and give better medical services to them. It also
makes the process efficient, improves the exchange of information, and brings the best possible
way for patients to secure their documents to not have to carry them. Let’s check out more use
cases in this blockchain for beginners guide.

3. Energy Market
Energy distribution companies are big players that provide services to almost everyone out
there. For now, as a consumer, you need to wait for the big companies to provide you with an
installation. This can take anywhere between a few days to a few weeks, depending on your
location.

The energy market is currently a closed ecosystem with new players trying to revolutionize it
with the help of blockchain technology. With blockchain, nodes will become capable of
generating and trading electricity without the need for any centralized authority. There are
many companies using blockchain technology for this sector.
This will relax the energy prices and improve energy reach in places where it was not possible
before. There are projects like Grid+ and Power Ledger that are making all of these possible.

4. Real Estate
Using blockchain for real estate can benefit this sector greatly. Real estate is one big sector.
Right now, there are plenty of players in real estate that are struggling due to one reason or
another. One major reason behind the slow growth of real estate is the lack of efficiency in the
whole system. If you wish to purchase a property, then you need to go through a slow, painful
process that can take weeks to complete.
With blockchain, real estate can become more efficient with a safe and smooth transaction. All
of these will be possible because of smart contracts that can automate tasks like buying or
selling a property. It can also help do ownership verification and is cost-effective.

Other Applications
Government
Retail
Media and advertising
Oil and gas
Telecommunications
Manufacturing
Insurance
Financial services
Travel and transportation
Types of Blockchains
There are primarily two types of blockchains; Private and Public blockchain.
However, there are several variations too, like Consortium and Hybrid blockchains. Before we
get into details of the different types of blockchains, let us first learn what similarities do they
share. Every blockchain consists of a cluster of nodes functioning on a peer-to-peer (P2P)
network system. Every node in a network has a copy of the shared ledger which gets updated
timely. Each node can verify transactions, initiate or receive transactions and create blocks.

Four types of blockchains that are possible:

1. Public Blockchain

A public blockchain is a non-restrictive, permission-less distributed ledger system. Anyone

who has access to the internet can sign in on a blockchain platform to become an authorized
node and be a part of the blockchain network. A node or user which is a part of the public
blockchain is authorized to access current and past records, verify transactions or do proof-of-
work for an incoming block, and do mining. The most basic use of public blockchains is for
mining and exchanging cryptocurrencies.
Example: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin
2. Private Blockchain
A private blockchain is a restrictive or permission blockchain operative only in a closed
network. Private blockchains are usually used within an organization or enterprises where only
selected members are participants of a blockchain network. The level of security,
authorizations, permissions, accessibility is in the hands of the controlling organization. Thus,
private blockchains are similar in use as a public blockchain but have a small and restrictive
network. Private blockchain networks are deployed for voting, supply chain management,
digital identity, asset ownership, etc.
Examples of private blockchains are; Multichain and Hyperledger projects (Fabric, Sawtooth),
Corda, etc.
3. Consortium Blockchain
A consortium blockchain is a semi-decentralized type where more than one organization
manages a blockchain network. This is contrary to what we saw in a private blockchain, which
is managed by only a single organization. More than one organization can act as a node in this
type of blockchain and exchange information or do mining. Consortium blockchains are
typically used by banks, government organizations, etc.
Examples of consortium blockchain are; Energy Web Foundation, R3, etc.
4. Hybrid Blockchain
A hybrid blockchain is a combination of the private and public blockchain. It uses the features
of both types of blockchains that is one can have a private permission-based system as well as
a public permission-less system. With such a hybrid network, users can control who gets access
to which data stored in the blockchain. Only a selected section of data or records from the
blockchain can be allowed to go public keeping the rest as confidential in the private network.
The hybrid system of blockchain is flexible so that users can easily join a private blockchain
with multiple public blockchains. A transaction in a private network of a hybrid blockchain is
usually verified within that network. But users can also release it in the public blockchain to
get verified. The public blockchains increase the hashing and involve more nodes for
verification. This enhances the security and transparency of the blockchain network.
Example of a hybrid blockchain is Dragonchain.

Cryptocurrency definition
Cryptocurrency, sometimes called crypto-currency or crypto, is any form of currency that
exists digitally or virtually and uses cryptography to secure transactions.
It is much similar to real-world currency, but it does not have any physical appearance. It is
encrypted, transparent, and decentralized digital money, which is based on blockchain
technology. There are approximately 5000 different types of cryptocurrencies, among which
Bitcoin and Ethereum are the popular ones.
Crypto in Cryptocurrency: Crypto is used for cryptography, which is a technique of encryption
and decryption for secure communication between two parties. The cryptography technology
usually uses a computational algorithm such as SHA256, a public key, and a private key.
Cryptocurrency is digital or virtual currency, which is transparent, decentralized, and secured
by cryptography.
The most important feature of cryptocurrency is that it is a decentralized currency.
Decentralized means it is not issued by the central authorities, the user owns it, and neither
government nor the bank controls it. It is also known as the money of the future.

Bitcoin is the first decentralized cryptocurrency, which was released as open-source software
in the year 2009. After the creation of bitcoin, several other cryptocurrencies have been created.
Cryptocurrency has various features, such as:
1. It has a limit to how many units can exist, such that bitcoin has 21 million limits.
2. It performs easy verification of transfer of funds with the help of hashing algorithms
that verify each transaction.
3. It is independent of any central authority or a bank.
4. The new units can only be added after certain conditions are met.
Advantages of Cryptocurrency

Last several years, cryptocurrencies are being more popular among the public because of their
several advantages over paper money. Some of these advantages are given below:

1. Fraud-Proof

One of the important advantages of cryptocurrency is that it is fraud-proof. When a

cryptocurrency is created, all the user's confirmed transactions are saved in the public ledger.
The identity of coin owners is kept encrypted. Hence there is no chance for a fraudulent
transaction.

2. User ownership

Since the cryptocurrency is decentralized, the user owns it. No, any government or bank has
any control over it.

3. Easy transaction

In the traditional economy system, for doing any type of business or deal, there is always a lot
of transaction fees applicable that we need to pay for each transaction. Apart from this, there
are also various paper works, brokerage fees, commissions, etc., users need to pay. But when
we use cryptocurrency, all these things are removed; as for any transaction, there is no middle
man. Every transaction is performed between one to one within a secured network. This one-
to-one transaction makes it easier and more transparent than the traditional one.

4. Confidential Transactions

When we perform any transaction in a traditional transaction system with either cash or credit,
each transaction is recorded in our bank history. It means each transaction data remains with
banks.

In cryptocurrency, every transaction with the recipients would be unique. The information is
exchanged on the basis of the push concept. It means we are allowed to share only that
information that we want to disclose to the recipients.

How does Cryptocurrency Works?

Cryptocurrencies are decentralized systems that work on blockchain technology.

Blockchain is the technology, which is used by bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. It is a type of

record maintaining system which multiple users run in a decentralized manner. When a bitcoin
is exchanged over the network, a block of data is created and shared over the entire network.
Once this block is verified, it is added with the previous blocks and forms a chain type, hence
known as a blockchain.

A cryptocurrency is a medium of exchange that is digital, encrypted, and decentralized. Unlike

other currencies such as U.S. Dollar or the Euro, there is no central authority involves that
manages and maintains the value of a cryptocurrency. Instead, managing and maintaining tasks
are broadly distributed among cryptocurrency's users via the internet.

The working phenomenon of cryptocurrency transaction is given below:

o One user or sender who wants to send funds to another user starts the transaction.
o In this, each transaction is represented as a block. And this block is forwarded over the
blockchain network.
o This block is validated by the users of the chain, and once it is verified as a valid
transaction, a block is added to the chain.

Each transaction is encrypted and contains a unique set of keys, and whoever has those set of
keys, he can only own the amount of cryptocurrency.

Types of Cryptocurrency
After the creation of bitcoin, there are various types of cryptocurrencies available in the market.
Below is the list of popular types of cryptocurrencies:

1. Bitcoin
Bitcoin is the most recognizable type of cryptocurrency system. As per the studies, there are
approximately more than 18.5 million bitcoin tokens available for circulation, with a capped
limit of 21 million.
2. Bitcoin Cash
Bitcoin cash was introduced in the year 2017, and it is one of the most popular types of
cryptocurrencies available in the market.

3. Litecoin
Litecoin is gaining popularity day by day, and it works the same as bitcoin. It was developed
by Charlie Lee(former employee of Google) in the year 2011.

4. Ethereum
Etherum is heard in the same context as Bitcoin, but itself, it is not a cryptocurrency. Instead,
it is an online programmable platform that uses blockchain technology. It helps the developer
to develop and run DAapps within the system. Ethereum can be understood as an app store.

5. Ripple
Ripple is also a type of cryptocurrency, but it does not use Blockchain technology. It is not for
the particular user; rather, it mainly works for large companies or corporations to move a huge
amount of money across the world.
6. Stellar
Stellar is an open network, which is mainly used to store and transfer money. It is designed in
a way that all the financial systems across the world can work together over the same network.
It allows to create, send and trade all possible digital forms of money, whether it is dollar,
pesos, bitcoin, or anything.It does not charge users to use its network.
7. NEO
NEO was formally called Antshares and created in China. Its main goal is towards smart
contracts, which enable the users to create and execute agreements without involving the
intermediary.
8. Cardano
Cardano or ADA is a type of cryptocurrency, which is used for sending or receiving digital
funds. It was created by Charles Hoskinson. It is the only coin that is available with the
"Scientific philosophy and research-driven approach." It means it is reviewed by scientists and
programmers.
9. IOTA
IOTA stands for Internet of Things Application. It was launched in the year 2016. The main
difference between IOTA and other blockchain technologies is that IOTA does not work with
blocks and chains; rather, it works with smart devices on the internet of things.
To use it, we need to verify two previous transactions on the IOTA ledger, which is known as
Directed Acyclic Graph(DAG), also known as Tangle.

Future scope of Cryptocurrency

As per the current growth rate, it can be easily seen that cryptocurrency will have a great scope
in upcoming years. But there are also some conflicts that can occur in accepting cryptocurrency
as part of the economy.

It can be easily seen that some top cryptocurrencies will play an important role in the future,
as they are gaining popularity day-by-day from past years. Bitcoin is currently being used in
96 countries, and there occur approximately 12000 transactions/hour.

1. BTC (Bitcoin)

Market Cap- over 641 billion Dollar

Bitcoin (BTC) is the first digital currency, established in 2009 by someone using the alias
Satoshi Nakamoto. BTC, like most cryptocurrencies, is based on a network, which is a record
that stores information over a system of millions of servers. Bitcoin is maintained healthy and
confidential from scammers because updates to blockchain transactions must be validated by
performing a cryptographic problem, a process known as smart contracts.

Since Bitcoin is a household brand, its cost has soared. Five years ago, a Bitcoin could be
purchased for around $500. An individual Bitcoin was worth moreover than $32,000 in June
2021. That equates to a 6,300% increase.

2). ETH (Ethereum)

Market Cap- over 307 billion Dollar

Ethereum, which is both a digital currency and a blockchain system, is popular among
programmers because of various uses, such as it offers blockchain technology to be updated
concurrently when certain requirements are fulfilled and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Ethereum has grown tremendously as well. Its rate jumped by more than 22,000 percent within
only five years, from around $11 to more than $2,500.

Ethereum, the virtual currency that sparked the emergence of the initial coin offering (ICO),
ranks second in terms of market value on the ranking of digital currencies. It is much narrower
than bitcoin, with a market capitalization of just under $50 billion and a market cost of around
$500 per coin. As of this posting, there are around 100.7 million ETH coins in existence.

3. USDT (Tether)
Market Cap- over 62 billion Dollar
Unlike many other types of virtual currency, Tether is a bitcoin supported by fiat money such
as US dollars and the Euro and theoretically maintains a constant value to one of those
currencies. It implies that Tether's price should be more stable than other digital currencies,
and it's preferred by traders who are scared of other coin's price fluctuations.

Tether, formerly identified as Real currency, debuted in 2014 as one of the first digital
currencies linked to the USD. Tether is a blockchain-based coin whose digital tokens are
secured by an equivalent share of traditional monetary systems held in a banking scheme,
including the US dollar, Japanese yen, or Euro. Tether is a stable coin, which is a type of digital
currency that seeks to keep cryptocurrency values constant compared to the significant
volatility witnessed in the pricing of other popular cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and Ethereum.
With a market capitalization of $24.4 billion with a cost of $1.00, Tether was the 3rd largest
cryptocurrency by market valuation in January 2021.

4. BNB (Binance Coin)

Market Cap- over 56 billion Dollar

The Binance Coin is a type of cryptocurrency that may use to exchange and obtain funds on
Binance, one of the largest global digital currency trading.

Binance Coin has grown beyond just conducting deals on Binance's trading platform since its
inception in 2017. It is now possible to utilize it for commerce, revenue management, and even
arranging trip plans. It may also be exchanged or transferred for other cryptocurrencies like
Bitcoin or Ethereum.

It was just $0.10 in 2017; by June 2021, it has increased to about $350, a growth of about
350,000 percent.

Binance Coin (BNB) is an ETH-based ERC20 cryptocurrency introduced by Binance, a well-

known cryptocurrency trade. Utilizing this currency, you may charge a deposit for trading
activities. The coin was produced with a total number of 200 million coins. As per the Policy
paper, Binance aims to use 20% of earnings each season to purchase out and trash BNB until
50% of the overall BNB circulation (100 million) has been burned.

CRYPTOCURRENCY USE CASES: THE PATH TO TRUE FINANCIAL FREEDOM

PAYMENTS
If you had to urgently send $1,000 to a friend who lives in a different country, it would be a
nightmare to do it through a banking system. After all, urgent situations can’t wait three to
seven days for a payment to settle.
With cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), or XRP, you can send the
money to your friend while you both are still on the call. It’s that fast. Bitcoin takes about 10
minutes to settle transactions, but there are other cryptocurrencies that can reach your friend’s
account almost instantly.

STORE OF VALUE
Apart from being a highly efficient means of payment, cryptocurrencies are also a safer store
of value. The traditional currencies we use are inflammatory, i.e., they lose value over time.
That’s the reason why you pay much more for a dozen eggs today than what you paid 10 or 20
years ago. Eggs are not getting expensive. Your money is losing value.
cryptocurrencies, on the other hand, employ better supply mechanisms that restrict inflation
and may increase in value with rising demand. Due to this, when you store your funds in
cryptocurrencies, they can potentially gain value instead of losing value over time.

LENDING AND BORROWING

If you’ve ever stood in a queue or waited to get your paperwork done to get a loan, you know
it’s a painful process. What if you could get a loan digitally, without even having to fill a single
form or sign a contract? That’d be amazing, right?

Decentralized finance applications have disintermediated the lending and borrowing process.
They allow individuals to lend and borrow funds almost instantly using cryptocurrencies. In
addition, as cryptocurrencies are borderless currencies, you can lend or borrow from these
platforms irrespective of where you live.

ASSET TOKENIZATION
The advent of cryptocurrencies has made it possible to tokenize real-world assets. Anything
from copyrights to real estate and art pieces to commodities can be tokenized and represented
in form of a cryptocurrency token. For example, using blockchain, we can tokenize a luxury
real estate property worth $10 million and represent it as one million crypto tokens worth $10.
This adds more liquidity to an otherwise illiquid asset and makes the exchange of even non-
liquid assets more convenient. Additionally, the buying and selling of these assets become cost-
effective, fast, and more transparent.

GAMING
Cryptocurrencies, in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), are already disrupting the gaming
industry. In the gaming world, NFTs are crypto tokens that represent a unique digital asset
inside a game. As each NFT represents something unique, they have different values and are
not interchangeable. This gives every user a completely authentic in-game item, the likes of
which is owned by no one but them. Digital cats called Crypto Kitties are the most famous
example of blockchain-based NFTs.

STORAGE
The centralized cloud storage platforms have many major shortcomings from high fees to
server outages. This has paved the way for decentralized storage created through the use of
blockchain. In such a system, anyone can rent out their free storage space.
If you had 250 GB free on your disk, you could rent it on a decentralized storage platform such
as Filecoin and earn a passive income from it. People who opt to buy your storage space would
pay you in the storage platform’s native cryptocurrency.

MAKING CRYPTO EASY FOR ALL

Despite a wide range of use cases, cryptocurrencies are often seen as a complex form of money.
With the right information and solutions, it can be extremely easy to own, spend, and manage.
Maybe, easier than the currency you use today.

Through its hardware wallet and application, Ledger aims to help you reap the benefits of
cryptocurrencies in a user-friendly and secure environment. By educating more people about
cryptocurrencies, Ledger will also enable more people to claim ownership of their money and
open access to the above-mentioned use cases. This will help a wider population to embark on
their journey to financial independence.

Introduction to Cloud Computing

Cloud Computing is the delivery of computing services such as servers, storage, databases,
networking, software, analytics, intelligence, and more, over the Cloud (Internet).

Cloud computing is a platform that provides access to computing resources over the internet.
Cloud Computing provides an alternative to the on-premises datacentre. With an on-premises
datacentre, we have to manage everything, such as purchasing and installing hardware,
virtualization, installing the operating system, and any other required applications, setting up
the network, configuring the firewall, and setting up storage for data. After doing all the set-
up, we become responsible for maintaining it through its entire lifecycle.

But if we choose Cloud Computing, a cloud vendor is responsible for the hardware purchase
and maintenance. They also provide a wide variety of software and platform as a service. We
can take any required services on rent. The cloud computing services will be charged based on
usage.
The cloud environment provides an easily accessible online portal that makes handy for the
user to manage the compute, storage, network, and application resources. Some cloud service
providers are in the following figure.
Advantages of cloud computing
o Cost: It reduces the huge capital costs of buying hardware and software.
o Speed: Resources can be accessed in minutes, typically within a few clicks.
o Scalability: We can increase or decrease the requirement of resources according to the
business requirements.
o Productivity: While using cloud computing, we put less operational effort. We do not
need to apply patching, as well as no need to maintain hardware and software. So, in
this way, the IT team can be more productive and focus on achieving business goals.
o Reliability: Backup and recovery of data are less expensive and very fast for business
continuity.
o Security: Many cloud vendors offer a broad set of policies, technologies, and controls
that strengthen our data security.

Types of Cloud Computing

o Public Cloud: The cloud resources that are owned and operated by a third-party cloud
service provider are termed as public clouds. It delivers computing resources such as
servers, software, and storage over the internet
o Private Cloud: The cloud computing resources that are exclusively used inside a single
business or organization are termed as a private cloud. A private cloud may physically
 be located on the company’s on-site datacentre or hosted by a third-party service
provider.
o Hybrid Cloud: It is the combination of public and private clouds, which is bounded
together by technology that allows data applications to be shared between them. Hybrid
cloud provides flexibility and more deployment options to the business.

Types of Cloud Services

1. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): In IaaS, we can rent IT infrastructures like servers

and virtual machines (VMs), storage, networks, operating systems from a cloud service
vendor. We can create VM running Windows or Linux and install anything we want on
it. Using IaaS, we don’t need to care about the hardware or virtualization software, but
other than that, we do have to manage everything else. Using IaaS, we get maximum
flexibility, but still, we need to put more effort into maintenance.
2. Platform as a Service (PaaS): This service provides an on-demand environment for
developing, testing, delivering, and managing software applications. The developer is
responsible for the application, and the PaaS vendor provides the ability to deploy and
run it. Using PaaS, the flexibility gets reduce, but the management of the environment
is taken care of by the cloud vendors.
3. Software as a Service (SaaS): It provides a centrally hosted and managed software
services to the end-users. It delivers software over the internet, on-demand, and
typically on a subscription basis. E.g., Microsoft One Drive, Dropbox, WordPress,
Office 365, and Amazon Kindle. SaaS is used to minimize the operational cost to the
maximum extent.
(NOTE:Middleware is software that provides common services and capabilities to
applications outside of what's offered by the operating system. Data management,
application services, messaging, authentication, and API management are all commonly
handled by middleware.
Virtualization is the process of creating a virtual version of a server or computer system using
software rather than hardware. It enables multiple operating systems to run simultaneously on
a single machine.
Virtualization aims to centralize administrative tasks and reduce hardware costs while
improving scalability and workloads.)

What is AWS?

• AWS stands for Amazon Web Services.

• The AWS service is provided by the Amazon that uses distributed IT infrastructure to
provide different IT resources available on demand. It provides different services such
as infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS) and packaged software
as a service (SaaS).
 • Amazon launched AWS, a cloud computing platform to allow the different
organizations to take advantage of reliable IT infrastructure.

Uses of AWS

• A small manufacturing organization uses their expertise to expand their business by

leaving their IT management to the AWS.
• A large enterprise spread across the globe can utilize the AWS to deliver the training to
the distributed workforce.
• An architecture consulting company can use AWS to get the high-compute rendering
of construction prototype.
• A media company can use the AWS to provide different types of content such as ebox
or audio files to the worldwide files.

Pay-As-You-Go

Based on the concept of Pay-As-You-Go, AWS provides the services to the customers.

AWS provides services to customers when required without any prior commitment or upfront
investment. Pay-As-You-Go enables the customers to procure services from AWS.

• Computing
• Programming models
• Database storage
• Networking
Advantages of AWS

1) Flexibility

• We can get more time for core business tasks due to the instant availability of new
features and services in AWS.
• It provides effortless hosting of legacy applications. AWS does not require learning
new technologies and migration of applications to the AWS provides the advanced
computing and efficient storage.
• AWS also offers a choice that whether we want to run the applications and services
together or not. We can also choose to run a part of the IT infrastructure in AWS and
the remaining part in data centres.

2) Cost-effectiveness

AWS requires no upfront investment, long-term commitment, and minimum expense when
compared to traditional IT infrastructure that requires a huge investment.

3) Scalability/Elasticity

Through AWS, autoscaling and elastic load balancing techniques are automatically scaled up
or down, when demand increases or decreases respectively. AWS techniques are ideal for
handling unpredictable or very high loads. Due to this reason, organizations enjoy the benefits
of reduced cost and increased user satisfaction.

4) Security

• AWS provides end-to-end security and privacy to customers.

• AWS has a virtual infrastructure that offers optimum availability while managing full
privacy and isolation of their operations.
• Customers can expect high-level of physical security because of Amazon's several
years of experience in designing, developing and maintaining large-scale IT operation
centers.
• AWS ensures the three aspects of security, i.e., Confidentiality, integrity, and
availability of user's data.
Features of AWS

The following are the features of AWS:

• Flexibility
• Cost-effective
• Scalable and elastic
• Secure
• Experienced

1) Flexibility

• The difference between AWS and traditional IT models is flexibility.

• The traditional models used to deliver IT solutions that require large investments in a
new architecture, programming languages, and operating system. Although these
investments are valuable, it takes time to adopt new technologies and can also slow
down your business.
• The flexibility of AWS allows us to choose which programming models, languages,
and operating systems are better suited for their project, so we do not have to learn new
skills to adopt new technologies.
• Flexibility means that migrating legacy applications to the cloud is easy, and cost-
effective. Instead of re-writing the applications to adopt new technologies, you just need
to move the applications to the cloud and tap into advanced computing capabilities.
• Building applications in AWS are like building applications using existing hardware
resources.
• The larger organizations run in a hybrid mode, i.e., some pieces of the application run
in their data center, and other portions of the application run in the cloud.
• The flexibility of AWS is a great asset for organizations to deliver the product with
updated technology in time, and overall enhancing the productivity.
2) Cost-effective

• Cost is one of the most important factors that need to be considered in delivering IT
solutions.
• For example, developing and deploying an application can incur a low cost, but after
successful deployment, there is a need for hardware and bandwidth. Owing our own
infrastructure can incur considerable costs, such as power, cooling, real estate, and staff.
• The cloud provides on-demand IT infrastructure that lets you consume the resources
what you actually need. In AWS, you are not limited to a set amount of resources such
as storage, bandwidth or computing resources as it is very difficult to predict the
requirements of every resource. Therefore, we can say that the cloud provides flexibility
by maintaining the right balance of resources.
• AWS provides no upfront investment, long-term commitment, or minimum spend.
• You can scale up or scale down as the demand for resources increases or decreases
respectively.
• An AWS allows you to access the resources more instantly. It has the ability to respond
the changes more quickly, and no matter whether the changes are large or small, means
that we can take new opportunities to meet the business challenges that could increase
the revenue, and reduce the cost.

3) Scalable and elastic

• In a traditional IT organization, scalability and elasticity were calculated with

investment and infrastructure while in a cloud, scalability and elasticity provide savings
and improved ROI (Return On Investment).
• Scalability in AWS has the ability to scale the computing resources up or down when
demand increases or decreases respectively.
• Elasticity load balancing and scalability automatically scale your AWS computing
resources to meet unexpected demand and scale down automatically when demand
decreases.
• The AWS cloud is also useful for implementing short-term jobs, mission-critical jobs,
and the jobs repeated at the regular intervals.

4) Secure

• AWS provides a scalable cloud-computing platform that provides customers with end-
to-end security and end-to-end privacy.
• AWS incorporates the security into its services, and documents to describe how to use
the security features.
• AWS maintains confidentiality, integrity, and availability of your data which is the
utmost importance of the AWS.

Physical security: Amazon has many years of experience in designing, constructing, and
operating large-scale data centers. An AWS infrastructure is incorporated in AWS controlled
data centers throughout the world. The data centers are physically secured to prevent
unauthorized access.

Secure services: Each service provided by the AWS cloud is secure.

Data privacy: A personal and business data can be encrypted to maintain data privacy.
5) Experienced

• The AWS cloud provides levels of scale, security, reliability, and privacy.
• AWS has built an infrastructure based on lessons learned from over sixteen years of
experience managing the multi-billion dollar Amazon.com business.
• Amazon continues to benefit its customers by enhancing their infrastructure
capabilities.
• Nowadays, Amazon has become a global web platform that serves millions of
customers, and AWS has been evolved since 2006, serving hundreds of thousands of
customers worldwide.

AWS Global Infrastructure

• AWS is a cloud computing platform which is globally available.

• Global infrastructure is a region around the world in which AWS is based. Global
infrastructure is a bunch of high-level IT services which is shown below:
• AWS is available in 26 regions, and 84 availability zones .

The following are the components that make up the AWS infrastructure:

• Availability Zones
• Region
• Edge locations
• Regional Edge Caches

Availability zone as a Data Center

• An availability zone is a facility that can be somewhere in a country or in a city. Inside

this facility, i.e., Data Centre, we can have multiple servers, switches, load balancing,
firewalls. The things which interact with the cloud sits inside the data centers.
• An availability zone can be a several data centers, but if they are close together, they
are counted as 1 availability zone.

Region

• A region is a geographical area. Each region consists of 2 more availability zones.

 • A region is a collection of data centers which are completely isolated from other
regions.
• A region consists of more than two availability zones connected to each other through
links.

Edge Locations

• Edge locations are the endpoints for AWS used for caching content.
• Edge locations consist of CloudFront, Amazon's Content Delivery Network (CDN).
• Edge locations are more than regions. Currently, there are over 150 edge locations.
• Edge location is not a region but a small location that AWS have. It is used for caching
the content.
• Edge locations are mainly located in most of the major cities to distribute the content
to end users with reduced latency.
• For example, some user accesses your website from Singapore; then this request would
be redirected to the edge location closest to Singapore where cached data can be read.

Regional Edge Cache

• AWS announced a new type of edge location in November 2016, known as a Regional
Edge Cache.
• Regional Edge cache lies between CloudFront Origin servers and the edge locations.
• A regional edge cache has a large cache than an individual edge location.
• Data is removed from the cache at the edge location while the data is retained at the
Regional Edge Caches.
• When the user requests the data, then data is no longer available at the edge location.
Therefore, the edge location retrieves the cached data from the Regional edge cache
instead of the Origin servers that have high latency.

AWS Services

Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) is a web service interface that provides resizable
compute capacity in the AWS cloud. It is designed for developers to have complete control
over web-scaling and computing resources.

EC2 instances can be resized and the number of instances scaled up or down as per our
requirement. These instances can be launched in one or more geographical locations or regions,
and Availability Zones (AZs). Each region comprises of several AZs at distinct locations,
connected by low latency networks in the same region.

EC2

Ease in scaling up and down

Can integrate with several other services

Pay only for what you use

How to create EC2 instances

1. Step 1: Choose an Amazon Machine Image (AMI), find an Amazon Linux 2 AMI at
the top of the list and choose Select.we can take amazon provide AMI or Custom AMI
as per choice.
2. Step 2: Choose an Instance Type, may choose any of them - compute
optimize,memory optimize,Graphical process unit optimize,stoare optimize,general
puppose optimize.
3. Step 3: Configure Instance Details, provide the following information:
• Number of instances at one.
• Purchasing option at the default setting.
• Network,
• Subnet, choose a default subnet in any Availability Zone.
• File systems
• The User data automatically includes the commands for mounting your
Amazon EFS file system.
4. STEP 4: Add Storage-you can take free temporary storage, amazon elastic block
storage ,amazon S3
5. STEP 5: Add Tags-to give meaning full name
6. Step 6: Configure Security Group, set Assign a security group to Select an existing
security group. Choose the default security group to make sure that it can access your
EFS file system.

You can't access your EC2 instance by Secure Shell (SSH) using this security group.

7. Step 7: Review and Launch.

EC2 Components

In AWS EC2, the users must be aware about the EC2 components, their operating systems
support, security measures, pricing structures, etc.
Operating System Support

Amazon EC2 supports multiple OS in which we need to pay additional licensing fees like: Red
Hat Enterprise, SUSE Enterprise and Oracle Enterprise Linux, UNIX, Windows Server, etc.
These OS needs to be implemented in conjunction with Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC).

Security

Users have complete control over the visibility of their AWS account. In AWS EC2, the
security systems allow create groups and place running instances into it as per the requirement.
You can specify the groups with which other groups may communicate, as well as the groups
with which IP subnets on the Internet may talk.

Pricing

AWS offers a variety of pricing options, depending on the type of resources, types of
applications and database. It allows the users to configure their resources and compute the
charges accordingly.

Fault tolerance

Amazon EC2 allows the users to access its resources to design fault-tolerant applications. EC2
also comprises geographic regions and isolated locations known as availability zones for fault
tolerance and stability. It doesn’t share the exact locations of regional data centers for security
reasons.

When the users launch an instance, they must select an AMI that's in the same region where
the instance will run. Instances are distributed across multiple availability zones to provide
continuous services in failures, and Elastic IP (EIPs) addresses are used to quickly map failed
instance addresses to concurrent running instances in other zones to avoid delay in services.

Migration

This service allows the users to move existing applications into EC2. It costs $80.00 per storage
device and $2.49 per hour for data loading. This service suits those users having large amount
of data to move.

Features of EC2

Here is a list of some of the prominent features of EC2 −

• Reliable − Amazon EC2 offers a highly reliable environment where replacement of

instances is rapidly possible. Service Level Agreement commitment is 99.9%
availability for each Amazon EC2 region.
• Designed for Amazon Web Services − Amazon EC2 works fine with Amazon services
like Amazon S3, Amazon RDS, Amazon DynamoDB, and Amazon SQS. It provides a
complete solution for computing, query processing, and storage across a wide range of
applications.
• Secure − Amazon EC2 works in Amazon Virtual Private Cloud to provide a secure and
robust network to resources.
 • Flexible Tools − Amazon EC2 provides the tools for developers and system
administrators to build failure applications and isolate themselves from common failure
situations.
• Inexpensive − Amazon EC2 wants us to pay only for the resources that we use. It
includes multiple purchase plans such as On-Demand Instances, Reserved Instances,
Spot Instances, etc. which we can choose as per our requirement.

AWS Storage Services

• AWS offers a wide range of storage services that can be provisioned depending on your
project requirements and use case. AWS storage services have different provisions for
highly confidential data, frequently accessed data, and the not so frequently accessed
data. You can choose from various storage types namely, object storage, file storage,
block storage services, backups, and data migration options. All of which fall under
the AWS Storage Services list.

Amazon S3

Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) is an object storage service offering industry-
leading scalability, data availability, security, and performance.
Customers of all sizes and industries can store and protect any amount of data for virtually any
use case, such as data lakes, cloud-native applications, and mobile apps.
With cost-effective storage classes and easy-to-use management features, you can optimize
costs, organize data, and configure fine-tuned access controls to meet specific business,
organizational, and compliance requirements.
Features of Amazon S3

Storage classes

Amazon S3 offers a range of storage classes designed for different use cases. For example, you
can store mission-critical production data in S3 Standard for frequent access, save costs by
storing infrequently accessed data.

Storage management

Amazon S3 has storage management features that you can use to manage costs, meet regulatory
requirements, reduce latency, and save multiple distinct copies of your data for compliance
requirements.

Access management

Amazon S3 provides features for auditing and managing access to your buckets and objects.
By default, S3 buckets and the objects in them are private. You have access only to the S3
resources that you create.

Data processing

To transform data and trigger workflows to automate a variety of other processing activities .

Strong consistency

Amazon S3 provides strong read-after-write consistency for PUT and DELETE requests of
objects in your Amazon S3 bucket in all AWS Regions.

S3 Advantages

• Low cost and Easy to Use − Using Amazon S3, the user can store a large amount of
data at very low charges.
• Secure − Amazon S3 supports data transfer over SSL and the data gets encrypted
automatically once it is uploaded. The user has complete control over their data by
configuring bucket policies using AWS IAM.
• Scalable − Using Amazon S3, there need not be any worry about storage concerns. We
can store as much data as we have and access it anytime.
• Higher performance − Amazon S3 is integrated with Amazon CloudFront, that
distributes content to the end users with low latency and provides high data transfer
speeds without any minimum usage commitments.
• Integrated with AWS other services − Amazon S3 integrated with AWS services
include Amazon CloudFront, Amazon CLoudWatch, Amazon Kinesis, Amazon RDS,
Amazon Route 53, Amazon VPC, AWS Lambda, Amazon EBS, Amazon Dynamo DB,
etc.
How Amazon S3 works Amazon S3 is an object storage service that stores data as objects
within buckets. An object is a file and any metadata that describes the file. A bucket is a
container for objects.

To store your data in Amazon S3, you first create a bucket and specify a bucket name and AWS
Region. Then, you upload your data to that bucket as objects in Amazon S3. Each object has
a key (or key name), which is the unique identifier for the object within the bucket.

S3 provides features that you can configure to support your specific use case. For example, you
can use S3 Versioning to keep multiple versions of an object in the same bucket, which allows
you to restore objects that are accidentally deleted or overwritten.

Buckets and the objects in them are private and can be accessed only if you explicitly grant
access permissions. You can use bucket policies, AWS Identity and Access Management
(IAM) policies, access control lists (ACLs), and S3 Access Points to manage access.
MICROSOFT SERVICES:
Microsoft supports:
MS Office 365
MS Windows Intune
Microsoft SQL Server with MS System Center
Enterprise Mobility Suite
Microsoft Visual Studio

The IBM Cloud

The IBM Cloud platform combines platform as a service (PaaS) with infrastructure as a service
(IaaS) to provide an integrated experience. The platform scales and supports both small
development teams and organizations, and large enterprise businesses. Globally deployed
across data centers around the world, the solution you build on IBM Cloud spins up fast and
performs reliably in a tested and supported environment you can trust!

IBM Cloud provides solutions that enable higher levels of compliance, security, and
management, with proven architecture patterns and methods for rapid delivery for running
mission-critical workloads. Available in data centers worldwide, across 19 countries with
multizone regions in North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia, you are enabled
to deploy locally with global scalability.

IBM Cloud offers the most open and secure public cloud for business with a next-generation
hybrid cloud platform, advanced data and AI capabilities, and deep enterprise expertise across
20 industries. Solutions are available depending on your needs for working in the public cloud,
on-premises, or a combination:

• With public cloud, the resources are made available to you over the public internet. It
is a multi-tenant environment, and resources like hardware and infrastructure are
managed by IBM.
• A hybrid cloud solution is a combination of public and private, giving you the
flexibility to move workloads between the two based on your business and
technological needs.
• IBM uses Red Hat OpenShift on IBM Cloud, the market-leading hybrid cloud
container platform for hybrid solutions that enables you to build once and deploy
anywhere. With IBM Cloud Satellite, you can create a hybrid environment that brings
the scalability and on-demand flexibility of public cloud services to the applications
and data that runs in your secure private cloud.
• Support for multicloud and hybrid multicloud solutions is also available, which
makes it easy for you to work with different vendors. IBM Cloud Paks are software
products for hybrid clouds that enable you to develop apps once and deploy them
anywhere.
• Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) is available as a public cloud offering that lets you
establish your own private cloud-like computing environment on shared public cloud
infrastructure. With VPC, enterprises can define and control a virtual network that is
logically isolated from all other public cloud tenants, creating a private, secure place
on the public cloud.
 • With our open source technologies, such as Kubernetes, Red Hat OpenShift, and a
full range of compute options, including virtual machines, containers, bare metal, and
serverless, you have the control and flexibility that's required to support workloads in
your hybrid environment. You can deploy cloud-native apps while also ensuring
workload portability.
• Whether you need to migrate apps to the cloud, modernize your existing apps by using
cloud services, ensure data resiliency against regional failure, or use new paradigms
and deployment topologies to innovate and build your cloud-native apps, the
platform's open architecture is built to accommodate your use case.

IBM Cloud platform is composed of multiple components that work together to provide a
consistent and dependable cloud experience.

• A robust console that serves as the front end for creating, viewing, managing your cloud
resources
• An identity and access management component that securely authenticates users for
both platform services and controls access to resources consistently across IBM Cloud
• A catalog that consists of hundreds of supported products
• A search and tagging mechanism for filtering and identifying your resources
• An account and billing management system that provides exact usage for pricing plans
and secure credit card fraud protection

Google Cloud Platform (GCP)

Google Cloud Platform is a set of Computing, Networking, Storage, Big Data, Machine
Learning and Management services provided by Google that runs on the same Cloud
infrastructure that Google uses internally for its end-user products, such as Google Search,
Gmail, Google Photos and YouTube.

Why Google Cloud Platform?

Google Cloud Platform, is a suite of cloud computing services that run on the same
infrastructure that Google uses internally for its end-user products, such as Google
Search, Gmail, Google Photos and YouTube. We all know how big is the database of Gmail,
Youtube and Google Search.

Some of the features of GCP what really gives it an upper hand over other vendors.
Google Cloud Platform Regions and Zones
Google Cloud Platform services are available in various locations across North America, South
America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. These locations are divided into regions and zones. You
can choose where to locate your applications to meet your latency, availability and durability
requirements.

What are Google Cloud Platform (GCP) Services?

Google offers a wide range of Services. Following are the major Google Cloud Services:

• Compute
• Networking
• Storage and Databases
• Big Data
• Machine Learning
• Identity & Security
• Management and Developer Tools

Compute: GCP provides a scalable range of computing options you can tailor to match your
needs. It provides highly customizable virtual machines. and the option to deploy your code
directly or via containers.

• Google Compute Engine

• Google App Engine
• Google Kubernetes Engine
• Google Cloud Container Registry
• Cloud Functions

Networking: The Storage domain includes services related to networking, it includes the
following services

• Google Virtual Private Cloud (VPC)

• Google Cloud Load Balancing
• Content Delivery Network
 • Google Cloud Interconnect
• Google Cloud DNS

Storage and Databases: The Storage domain includes services related to data storage, it
includes the following services

• Google Cloud Storage

• Cloud SQL
• Cloud Bigtable
• Google Cloud Datastore
• Persistent Disk

Big Data: The Storage domain includes services related to big data, it includes the following
services

• Google BigQuery
• Google Cloud Dataproc
• Google Cloud Datalab
• Google Cloud Pub/Sub

Cloud AI: The Storage domain includes services related to machine learning, it includes the
following services

• Cloud Machine Learning

• Vision API
• Speech API
• Natural Language API
• Translation API
• Jobs API

Identity & Security: The Storage domain includes services related to security, it includes the
following services

• Cloud Resource Manager

• Cloud IAM
• Cloud Security Scanner
• Cloud Platform Security

Management Tools: The Storage domain includes services related to monitoring and
management, it includes the following services

• Stackdriver
• Monitoring
• Logging
• Error Reporting
• Trace
• Cloud Console

Developer Tools: The Storage domain includes services related to development, it includes
the following services
o Cloud SDK
o Deployment Manager
o Cloud Source Repositories
o Cloud Test Lab