What is Cloud Computing?
In this blog I will cover the very basics of what is cloud computing.
Well to kick things off lets start by dispelling a few myths. The cloud is not actually in the sky at all. It is not affected by bad weather at all. It is also not new and honestly is not that complicated despite all the hype.
So what is it? The cloud is quite simply computing resource that is not where you are. Let me explain.
Traditionally you would have had a server in house and in might have sat in its own room on in a corner humming away. You could then connect to that server either in the office or even remotely if set up.
Cloud computing is effectively the same computing power or resource but stored somewhere else often called a data centre and you then access that server its resources and data over the internet.
Cloud computing is not really new. Enterprises have been operating in this way for years putting servers in their own data centres or using 3rd party ones. So why all the hype in the last few years?
The technology that is responsible for the change is called Virtualization. I wont get too technical, but in a nutshell meant that we could now run lots of applications and servers all on the same physical computer. So this dramatically lowered the cost of purchasing smaller pieces of computing resource and on an on demand basis.
The rise of services from companies like Amazon enable anybody with a credit card to able to buy as much or as little computing resource as and when they want and charged per minute.
Now its not just access to computing resource, it maybe an application or service you use online where the processing is not done on your computer but at their end. So for example using Facebook or Twitter is using the cloud. You just open a browser or an app on your mobile device and away you go.
This is the reason there has been an explosion of apps and services available over the last few years as the whole back-end and delivery has become very cost effective.
So you have probably been using cloud services for a long time without ever realising it?
You will see more and more services you use that are cloud based. No longer are disks sent out to install on each and every PC or Apple Mac. In fact as 99% of new applications are cloud based you can use either a PC or a Mac it does not really matter.
There are in larger companies or specialist companies that may still use some software that runs in the traditional manner, however these are getter fewer.
So how will the cloud change business? I think it will continue to disrupt business models and challenge business norms. I also feel this is just the very beginning.
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