Ever wondered where does your weird posed FB display pic go, where is it stored when you press the Upload button? Well, it goes directly 'In da Cloud'. As hip as the name sounds, so is the concept of Cloud Computing. But, for most of us it remains as a word heard during the GNIIT commercial! There is still a lot of haze surrounding this cloud. The most common questions being:
"Is this some new technology?", "Will it change the way I work?, "Do i really need to get into the cloud?"
The answer to both these questions is YES & NO. Yes because cloud computing is really the leading trend in technology innovation & it will, rather is already revolutionizing the work processes all over the world. No because the core for cloud computing is the same hard-ware and work-algorithm, the only difference lies in the way it is implemented.
1. NIST defines Cloud Computing as
“Cloud computing is a model for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.”
In simple words, it is just using the IT solutions on a RENTAL basis. To give an analogy, when you need electricity you just rent the service from BEST rather than installing a generator at your place. Thereby, you only pay for how much electricity you use. In this way, the whole usage gets cheaper, convenient and flexible as you can use more electricity by merely pressing a switch rather than buying a new generator with greater kW capacity. The Cloud also reduces the cost of the IT personnel to manage your network. I mean who recruits a pilot if you wish to fly somewhere? And with the SaaS ERP's available, you need not hire the most earning class in Indian economy, i.e. the CODING guy. In this way, you save your expensive Air-hostess tips for catering to you personal needs, which the Coding-class does for your software. So, what the Cloud does is holds your data at a remote server so you need not spend for the storage equipment and the maintenance. Sounds a bit risky? Well you have being using this since ages! Gmail, Yahoo and all the other domains where you attach your important documents are all on the CLOUD.
2. So does cloud computing mean Outsourcing?
Well, in a sense it does mean migrating your business processes to places where they are best managed. Say for example, your Data servers are hosted on the banks of US, where you get the cheapest electricity and your work flows are maintained in India where you get the best man-force at reasonable prices. The whole concept of working under the Cloud which encompasses the whole world might even change Whole Wide Web (www.) to Whole Wide Cloud (wwc.). But that again is a personal proposition!
3. One of the major cloud myth is Security!
It is very common for any business head to be apprehensive about his confidential data sitting somewhere else. This was even the case during the advent of the Banking structure around 3 centuries back. But all of us marvel at the advantages and its consequent growth banking provided to our money. Today no-one cares about where those Green paper-bills are dumped, all one bothers is how easily they are available through Cash, Cheque, Plastic or howsoever. Even Data is following the same thread which its elder sister, Money did years ago. Portability and Easy-availability enhances human-comfort, and all great heads from Thomas Edison to Daimler Chrysler have worked hard for this. Even Barack Obama has proposed in the US Budget for FY 2010 that all government institutions will consolidate data-centers and operations, eventually adopting the cloud-model. This not only saves the tax-payers money but also reinforces the public opinion on a formidable US cyber-space, though I cant comment the same about their air-space.
4. Environmental Impact
Apart from growing-globally and cutting-costs, let us now consider the other aspects of the Cloud. The CEO of DELL quoted in the Forbes magazine: : "I have always believed that IT is the engine of an efficient economy; it can also drive a greener one." So is the case with cloud computing, with different data-centers merging together into a single unit, we can select the source of powering such a plant. The renewable sources of energy can be used to power these massive data-centers which will run the world economy, thereby reducing the IT-sectors contribution to the carbon-footprint. As a matter of fact, steps are already taken in this regard, with major cloud-players like Gmail and Apple already focusing on hydro-electric & wind energy source to pump their Data-centers. The following research from a Greenpeace report gives a better understanding. In addition to this, Yahoo is building a $150 million data-center near Buffalo, New York because of the low cooling costs expected in the region and also because of the easily available hydro-electricity.
With Cloud-computing becoming the next factor driving the world economy, it is imperative for the bigger players to vest their interests towards the social responsibility they owe and thereby think of a Greener implementation of this next big thing, the Cloud.
The blog began with three questions, out of which the last one was unanswered. Well, considering all the above points and also the fact that merging ' In Da Cloud" forms the recent Press releases of all major companies , it is for the end-user to decide to either be up-front or be a latecomer in this emerging trend of CLOUD COMPUTING.
