Cloud computing

You must have heard many mutterings about Cloud computing - but do you know what it is? One of the latest buzzwords for a range of services, cloud computing refers to a mass of servers that are able to run software that normally would have to reside on your desktop computer. Obviously it is a little more complicated than that, but in essence the idea is that it will take away a lot of the hardware and software that we currently try to hide around our houses - leaving us with smaller leaner computers and laptops.

So why is cloud computing such a great idea? It may come as no shock that Google is one of the leading proponents of the cloud computing network - especially as they already operate many hundreds of thousands of computer servers worldwide. But can it ever replace the bulky desktops many of us have at home.

Practical cloud computing

There is no real reason why cloud computing shouldn't take off in a big way. Large companies (like Google, Microsoft, IBM, Rackspace and many more) manage and operate the servers, we simply access the cloud when we need to write a letter, play a game or run some software. Their servers balance the load continually to ensure 100% uptime to you the user.

Why should I take an interest?

If you are in the online business, or need to access services frequently consider the following :

• You can host a website very cheaply with no server maintenance to worry about (see here)
• Run web apps and ensure scalibitlity cheaply and efficiently
• If the hoster operates the software you want, it is cheaper to access - with no licence issues for your desktop
• As a users you only pay for the services used either a subscription or per transaction
• Thanks to large numbers of computers you get reliability and fault tolerance
• You can keep tweeting on Twitter because that is all cloud-based!

IT professionals do however note the close relationship between old style "mainframe" server set ups and the modern day "cloud computing" model. Specifically there are some concerns about personal security and overall flexibility (ie. could it mask and suppress creativity?), however this seems to be offset by the strong business case for running these types of computer systems in today's world for certain applications.

Summary :

We've set up this site to help you understand a little more about how this could all work for you. If you want to hosting websites and small business based growth, this could be perfect to help you watch the costs on a start-up model in the knowledge that you can expand it's capabilities as and when needed.