What is Cloud Computing?
What and where is cloud computing?
We will discuss:
What is the cloud and why should I care?
What does the cloud offer?
Real world example
Conclusion
What is the cloud and why should I care?
There are many answers to this question. Simply put, the cloud is “The Internet”. You likely use it everyday. You are connecting to a server to use their databases, play games, listen to music, or even view your bank account. The cloud drives us in many ways and is proving to be more and more versatile over time. More importantly, the cloud enables small companies and individuals to compete at any scale.
What does the cloud offer?
The cloud offers many technologies and services. One of the most common is storage and backup. A file is uploaded to the cloud and then can be accessed from anywhere - at any time. You can rent your own virtual servers in the cloud and host your own application. You can host websites and perform data analytics on any information you collect. There is even support for machine learning and artificial intelligence.
Real-World Example
As someone who uses the cloud, you want to know that your data is secure. If you’re like me, you expect it to be available when you try to load something, say a picture? But what happens when disaster strikes? Let’s discuss that with a simple scenario!
Not using the cloud
You’ve had your cellphone for a couple years now and you’re low on storage. You’ve ignored prompts to backup/sync to the cloud. Tomorrow is the day; it’s time for an upgrade! Unfortunately, your phone is severely damaged and no longer usable! You upgrade your phone and once it’s all set up and ready to go - you discover, no messages, no photos… What can you do? The short answer is: probably nothing.
Using the cloud
This time, you’ve allowed automatic syncing to take place, you even allow your photos to sync to the cloud while using data! Your storage is low and you decide to upgrade. Unfortunately, your phone is severely damaged and no longer usable! You upgrade your phone and once it’s all set up and ready to go - you discover, all of your messages are there and so are your pictures!
The latter situation is a better place to be if you ask me. But let’s talk about each situation individually.
The first person who wasn’t using the cloud was only storing data on their phone (locally). This means that if something happened to their device - it is potentially all gone. The same is true of computers, and other devices that store your information.
The second person was using the cloud. Their data was regularly sent to “The Cloud”. If disaster strikes; not all is lost. This data is on your phone, a datacenter somewhere else, and probably replicated to a few other different regions. This is easily possible because of the cloud.
Conclusion
The cloud is all around us and probably will be for a long time. We are using it daily and regularly whether we know it or not. The cloud offers a wide range of tools and services from storage and servers; all the way to machine learning and artificial intelligence!