COMPUTING IN THE CLOUD

I was just at a conference where a major reseller of IT products, both hardware and software was opining about Cloud Computing. What would be the impact of the “cloud?” And the best question asked, “What is the cloud?” I am still not sure – at first I thought of a hologram where you see the image but know that it doesn’t exist in actual form. You can walk around a hologram, see all sides of it, but yet you know that the image is not solid – it is transparent and it really isn’t there. It exists in some dedicated space. The first time I saw a hologram was at Disneyland. Is this the nature of the “cloud?”

More and more businesses, large and small will soon find out. Even individuals that use backup systems such as Carbonite are using the cloud. Quicken and other data services that store and allow you to have access to your data from anywhere at any time is considered, I think, as part of the cloud.

Why does the cloud scare large scale resellers and the smaller retailer? It is simple, you don’t need as much hardware or software as you did when all your capabilities were in house. So, as one executive put it, all you need is a few laptops, a printer, a scanner and smart phones and of course a router, you can run your business 24/7 from anywhere there is internet access.

There are some security concerns regarding the cloud. Is the data secured? Don’t really know – but is your data secure from hackers getting into your servers and PCs? Is the cloud securer than your office – probably so due to liability issues. Can a worm get into the cloud and steal data? Don’t know. I’ll bet everyone reading this has experienced a worm at one time or another.

What if the cloud bursts and it rains data everywhere? (I like this analogy). Don’t know if that can happen because the cloud is made of many services across the net, so your rainstorm may not be a cloud burst.

If you don’t think cloud computing it is happening, then get your head out of the clouds. It has been happening for a while. Social networking sites store contact lists, data, resumes, corporate data, personal data – all in the cloud – accessible 24/7 from anywhere. Shutterfly, Kodak, SmugMug and other photo sites have been storing your images for years now.Your financial data is stored on Quicken on the net if you choose to do it that way. The question that needs to be answered is how best are you going to use the cloud? Your business can benefit as you do have access to data whenever you need it. Customer data, financial data, logistics data, inventory data – all of this is available and managed in real time all the time. This can be done from a $300 netbook.

The major question is security. Companies like Wave Systems have come up with sophisticated systems that protect data from the hard drive to the cloud. Providers of cloud services have better and more sophisticated security systems by the nature of the business and the exposure that it could bring.

So, as Al Jolson sang so many years ago, "When you see those gray clouds upon the hills, they are not gray clouds, they are daffodils. . . “