What is "Cloud" computing?

The technology field is second to none when creating jargon. The nomenclature used in my business never ceases to amaze me. It’s a rite of passage to learn the lingo and then use it in a meeting where nobody knows what you are talking about. There is nothing like watching Board members’ eyes glaze over when you begin to talk about IT and start throwing out acronyms and other technologically coded phrases during a meeting. All during my career, when people ask me what I do, I tell them I’m an interpreter. A walking, talking Technology to English, English to Technology dictionary. Today’s entry in my lexicon is “Cloud”. My mission, and I do choose to accept it, is to not sound condescending to you while simultaneously trying to demystify this common technology usurped nugget of a word. Want to sound knowledgeable in your next IT meeting? Look your CTO straight in the eyes and say, “So what progress have we made with evaluating moving our software and services to the cloud?” It’ll get your IT guy all excitedy. Ok, I admit it, I made up excitedy, but the rest is gold I tell ya! I also promise you, that if you read the rest of this, you’ll know exactly what that means. If you already do, you can stop here, unless you have five or six minutes to kill.
What is cloud computing and where exactly is the cloud located and is there a chance of scattered showers? Simply put, the cloud is the internet. It gets its name because on the schematics of IT infrastructure that no one ever updates, documents or looks at, the symbol for the internet is a cloud. If you bank online, you are using the infamous cloud. If you use Google mail, play online poker, or use Facebook (gotcha!) you are cloud computing. Heck, entire Universities like Phoenix and Shopping Malls like Amazon exist out there in the cloud. Your photo album is probably in the cloud. Here’s a good way to think of it, if it runs in a browser, you are in the cloud.
I’ve just finished converting my office to GoogleApps. Guess what, no more Microsoft Exchange server to use and care for and no more backup tapes to take offsite every night. Viola’, I’m in the cloud. I am much more secure with the infrastructure and support of a $330 billion dollar company than my 5 year old Microsoft Exchange email Server back in the closet running on bubble gum and bandaids. Buy a new server, 100 new seat licenses, Microsoft Server 2008 or move to GoogleApps for free? Guess what, no more gifts that keep on giving to Bill Gates – so long sucker. My entire career has been a shotgun wedding with Mary Microsoft and as an IT professional, I’ve wanted a divorce from her because she never works right and you just can’t talk to her. I have had to, reluctantly, learn to just push her buttons and hold on and hope for the best. Well guess what, cloud computing offers me that chance to end this relationship! Are you beginning to get the picture now as to why this paradigm shift is getting the business world’s attention? Can you see why you should be buying Google and selling Microsoft stock yet? Well, hang on, it gets better. Application Service Providers or ASP’s (I’ll save this one for later) are beginning to roll out productivity, collaboration and even communications suites that run from the cloud. Gone are the days when you buy a big server, load up a giant application, dole out seats to the dance one by one to users and manage everything in between. No, now, if you can browse, you’re in. Players like Salesforce.com are already putting a dent in the sharing, meeting and collaborating over the web market. Huge shift in business travel expenses as tele-presence gets better and cheaper. Salesforce.com will “cloudify” (ok, I made that one up too) any application and host it for you over the web. If you think all this is saving big money on IT expeditures, business travel expenses, long distance, you name it - you’d be right.
Too good to be true? What happens when you lose your internet connection? Have any of you ever been to McDonald’s during a power outage or if their computers were down? That’s pretty much what you’d see in your office if you lost internet connectivity, everybody would be looking at each other wondering how much a big mac costs which wouldn’t matter because they couldn’t sell you one or make change anyway, …. You get the picture. Some companies are not ready, either, to allow some server farm in Iowa to house all of their data and not be able to put their hands on a buzzing server in the office with blinking lights. I say these folks will be holding on at their peril. The cost savings are going to be too enticing not to look at this model and with the extra savings you can buy dedicated redundant internet connectivity.
Imagine a world, in the not too distant future where all of your info is in the cloud and you can reach it by ipad, iphone, android, laptop, notebook, mac, windows, apple snow leapord – who cares what kind of system.. and you are no longer tethered to your desktop PC in the office cube….all that stuff in the cloud doesn’t care where or what you use to look at it, it only cares that you can run a browser. Think of how that might change the notion of how you produce and how it will ultimately redefine the office environment. This is all exciting stuff and perhaps now you can see, at least from my perspective, why my job is fun. Innovate or die in this environment.

Well, that’s all for now. It’s clear today, but this guy sees clouds in the forecast.

Says that "Cloud Computing" rates a big "Medium" for now.