You have been hearing about Cloud Computing and would like to know what it and what it can do for you and your business. According to Wikipedia,
Cloud computing is Internet-based computing, with shared servers that provide resources, software, and data to computers and other devices on demand.
"What cloud computing really means" - by Eric Knorr and Galen Gruman from InfoWorld - The next big trend sounds nebulous, but it's not so fuzzy when you view the value proposition from the perspective of IT professionals
Cloud computing is all the rage. "It's become the phrase du jour," says Gartner senior analyst Ben Pring, echoing many of his peers. The problem is that (as with Web 2.0) everyone seems to have a different definition.
As a metaphor for the Internet, "the cloud" is a familiar cliché, but when combined with "computing," the meaning gets bigger and fuzzier. Some analysts and vendors define cloud computing narrowly as an updated version of utility computing: basically virtual servers available over the Internet. Others go very broad, arguing anything you consume outside the firewall is "in the cloud," including conventional outsourcing.
Cloud computing is as much a paradigm shift in data center and IT management as it is a culmination of IT's capacity to drive business ahead. It can be narrowly defined as "just-in-time provisioning and scaling of services on shared hardware." But really, it's an opportunity to transform how your business and its people work.
The cloud makes it possible to:
· Scale rapidly-up and down.
· Deploy services only when and where they're needed.
· Deliver rich experiences across the PC, phone, and browser.
· Generate efficiencies and cost savings by paying as you go for only the services used.
Productivity Tools available on the Cloud:
· Email
· Team collaboration and websites
· Instant messaging and videoconferencing
· Content creation applications, including documents,
spreadsheets, presentations, etc.
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The CEO Computers.com website has the following article:
Microsoft Business Productivity Online Standard Suite
is a set of messaging and collaboration solutions hosted by Microsoft, and consists of Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Office Live Meeting, and Office Communications Online. These online services are designed to give your business streamlined communication with high availability, comprehensive security, and simplified IT management. Your business benefits from always up-to-date technologies that are deployed rapidly, maximizing your valuable IT resources and reducing your need for infrastructure investments.
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There is a cloud on your company's horizon regardless of size, focus, or vertical. Cloud computing offers a paradigm shift in cost savings, agility, scalability, and global reach that is simply too powerful for any enterprise to ignore.
The other most common misconception about cloud computing is security. Moving critical data to the cloud is a difficult proposition for many CIOs worried about data security. Fortunately, if you look closely, you'll find that competitive cloud providers, with highly trained on-premises staff and enterprise-class datacenter facilities, can offer as much or more security for your data than what most companies are using now. Use the cloud's unprecedented flexibility to build a cloud computing solution that both enhances your IT capabilities and helps protect your critical data.
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· Deploy services only when and where they're needed.
· Deliver rich experiences across the PC, phone, and browser.
· Generate efficiencies and cost savings by paying as you go for only the services used.
In moving to the cloud, you can choose to implement any combination of several cloud models. The "public" cloud typically describes complete services offered by third-party providers. A "private" cloud involves organizations enabling their own cloud-computing capabilities on-premises or via dedicated hardware from a third-party host.
There are three basic models in mind:
· A private cloud is a set of computing resources that is dedicated to an organization, usually on-premises.
· A hosted private cloud has a dedicated infrastructure that's hosted by a third-party but is inaccessible to other customers.
· A public cloud involves computing resources hosted externally but shared with other organizations and dynamically provisioned and billed on a utility basis - pay for what you use as you use it.
None of these models are all-encompassing. Part of the cloud's unique power is its flexibility. Cloud models are designed to work together, so you can use the right models for your organization as well as for individual workloads.
