Some Facts on a New Collaborative Technology: Cloud Computing

Seemingly with every turn around the corner, the IT sector is spinning a new catch phrase for you to learn.

This time it's cloud computing.

Cloud Computing

In its simplest definition, cloud computing is an internet-based technology, whereby resources such as software used to manipulate information (as well as the information itself) is provided to computers, devices, and users on an as-needed basis.

Demand for both information and services are spread across many computers, applications, and services, and may span from one network to another. By distributing workload and bandwidth demands across an overall larger work platform, no one component is overly stressed.

In simplest words, cloud computing is information and resource sharing.

Cloud computing was first foreseen as a plausible concept as early as the 1960s when world-renowned computer scientist John McCarthy surmised that computing technology "may someday be organized as a public utility".

We've seen small-scale implementations of the concept in computing products such as Microsoft's Cluster Server. We've also seen a similar concept arise in the division of enterprise-wide labor by assigning task-specific workloads to individual resources - such as the internet security and gateway activities handled by firewall server-services.

Benefits to Cloud Computing

Implementation of an enterprise-wide supporting cloud computing offers several obvious advantages. Among these are:

• Access - Through the connection provided by the internet, both information and software resources are linked together, and thus readily accessible to both users and the services which poll these resources. It goes without saying that - like a server-level network − levels of access across a "cloud" of interconnected networks may be administered by security applications much like those seen on small scale systems.

• Cost Reduction - By sharing both information and software resources across multiple entities - whether they are separate departments within a company, or even separate companies - all can split the costs for expensive licensing fees and other operational payments. By rallying the cloud of consumers together, an economy of numbers factors in: payments made toward high costs are softened when spread across the board.

• Scalability - When several groups agree to split the responsibility for maintaining resources and information, the overall package scales upward in both performance and features. Unlike the less robust information management services seen in smaller networks, a larger overall implementation may offer more features and greater enterprise-scale performance. Because the "cloudlike" nature of cloud computing distributes services and information across several business entities at once, these smaller entities are able to enjoy large-scale performance and features at a more palatable shared cost.

Real World Applications?

While still a new concept, first takers on real-world implementations of cloud computing are relatively few. However, industry trend-reporting gurus McKinsey & Company state, "Consumer acceptance of Web-based cloud services for everything from e-mail to video is of course becoming universal, and companies are following suit."

Among the early implementations we may see will be for email services. Says Mitch Irsfeld of TechNet Magazine, "Email is emerging as the low-hanging fruit for cloud computing in the enterprise. It's a workload that lends itself quite naturally to the service model and, shows great potential for a fast return on investment. Email's also the logical walk-before-you-run approach to acclimating your user base to cloud-based servers."

The Jury's Still Out

While it remains a new concept, the jury likewise remains out on whether cloud computing is an over-cooked red herring, or a valuable newcomer to the business enterprise block.

Given the state of the global economy, buyers are taking a cautious approach to new IT implementations. It may take time for cloud computing to shake out as a measurably valuable business offering.

Sources:

• "Clouds, big data, and smart assets: Ten tech-enabled business trends to watch", MicKinsey Quarterly, August 2010.

• "Editor's Note: Email, the Lowest-Hanging Fruit of the Cloud", Mitch Irsfeld, TechNet Magazine

• Interviews with IT associates