The Cloud–What is it?

“The cloud. The cloud, the cloud, the cloud. We’re gonna put data into the cloud, were gonna take data out of the cloud. Hey when are you going to come join us in the cloud? It’s a big deal this cloud, it makes me nervous.”

(As you should be but I’ll get into that later.)

Some of you may recognize that opening from an insurance commercial, one of my favorite ones actually. In the commercial they are referencing a boat and not the cloud but I felt what they were saying also applies to the cloud. Every day you hear about the cloud but most people really don’t know or understand what it is. I decided to do a high level look at the cloud and hopefully shed some insight as to what the cloud really is.

Basically, the cloud is remotely located servers. It’s not some mysterious thing. These servers can host several “cloud” services. For example, data, music, software as a service (SAAS), email, and more. The term “the cloud” is marketing genius in my opinion. Think about it, would you trust your information to be located on a remote server somewhere far away from you? Probably not. However, when you hear “All of our services are in the cloud!” or “Access your data from the cloud!” you’re a little more likely to pay attention and be open to it.

Do you have an online email account like Gmail, outlook.com, yahoo? Do you use Facebook, Google+, Flicker? If you answered yes to any of these then you my friend are in the cloud!

The cloud has actually been around for a long time but it wasn’t until recently that these types of services have really come into light. With the advent of social media and the incredible improvements in online technology and storage, the “cloud” has really taken off. Mobile devices have also played a large role in the development of the cloud. The ability to access your data from your phone has dramatically pushed the development of cloud services.

In the past, if you wanted to have your information available to you outside of your home or office, you had to set up your own server and open it up to the outside world. This was time consuming and expensive. Plus most people didn’t have the resources, finances or know how to do this. Over time as technology improved these options began to open up and become more available. With big companies seeing the benefit of cloud services, more time and investments were made bringing these technologies to the masses.

Both Microsoft and Google have invested into cloud services offering Office products, storage, music services and more for the public. Other companies have sprouted up offering cloud services as well like CrashPlan, a company that offers backup services for computer systems to the cloud. PCMonitor also provides a cloud service for monitoring computer systems. Both offer free services which are perfect for home users and offer professional services for companies and organizations. Another company that has embraced the cloud and made it easier for you to access all of your cloud storage locations is Storage Made Easy. They offer a free application and service that lets you access all of your cloud based storage in one location. I use all three of these services and really like them. Click on the links in the side bar and check them out. (I don’t make any commission off them and provide them because I like and believe in their services.)

Earlier I mentioned that you should be a little nervous about the cloud and here’s why. With as good as technology is and has gotten, it’s not perfect. Hackers have also gotten better as well. You also need to consider the possibility of loosing everything. Remember, the cloud is a series of servers located somewhere outside of your physical reach. You need to ask yourself “Are they performing backups on my stuff or is it only the paid services that get backed up? What is their approach to security? Sure I have a password but are they also encrypting the data? And what about the government? Can they access my data?”

All of these are valid questions and aspects of the cloud you should research. In general, when starting out use the approach of “If it’s something you don’t want anyone to possibly see, then don’t put it out there.” Once you feel more comfortable with the cloud and understand how the service you are using works, then you can put more sensitive material out there.

I hope this gives you a little more understanding of the cloud. It’s a great technology and is available to you today! Embrace the cloud but do it with caution. The fluffy cloud could quickly turn into a storm!

For further reading, check out Paul McFedries book “Cloud Computing: Beyond the Hype”

 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons license.