JAWAHARLAL NEHRU TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY HYDERABAD B.Tech IV CLOUD COMPUTING Previous Question Paper (July/August - 2022 - R18)

Cluster computing involves a group of tightly coupled computers working together as a single system to perform parallel tasks, typically located in the same physical environment and connected via high-speed local networks. In contrast, cloud computing is a model for enabling ubiquitous, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (servers, storage, applications) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort, often distributed across geographically dispersed data centers.

Key differences include:

• Coupling: Cluster nodes are tightly coupled for high-performance computing, whereas cloud resources are loosely coupled and designed for multi-tenancy and scalability.
• Objective: Clusters focus on high availability and high-performance throughput, while cloud computing focuses on service delivery, cost-efficiency, and elastic resource management.
• Control: Users in a cluster typically have direct control over the hardware and software stack, whereas cloud users interact with virtualized resources via APIs or service interfaces.

Optical Computing uses light (photons) rather than electricity (electrons) to perform digital computations. By utilizing lasers or LEDs for data transmission and optical components like prisms, lenses, and optical fibers for processing, it aims to overcome the speed and heat limitations of traditional silicon-based electronics. Advantages include massive parallelism, as multiple light beams can pass through each other without interference, and significantly higher bandwidth. However, it faces challenges in miniaturization and the difficulty of creating efficient optical logic gates that can match the switching speeds of transistors.

Nano Computing refers to the use of nanotechnology to build computing devices at the molecular or atomic scale. This involves replacing traditional transistors with nanoscale components such as carbon nanotubes, molecular switches, or quantum dots. The primary goal is to achieve extreme density, allowing billions of logic elements to fit into a tiny space, thereby drastically reducing power consumption and increasing processing speed. Current research focuses on overcoming issues related to manufacturing precision, heat dissipation at the nanoscale, and the integration of these components into existing CMOS architectures to create hybrid systems that bridge the gap between current technology and future molecular-scale machines.