Examples of Successful Cloud Server Computing Businesses like Netflix, Flickr, Hulu and Nook!
Are You Confused by Cloud Computing?
The latest trend in cutting-edge information technology is Cloud Computing. Are you looking for a clear, simple definition of what this means? Do you wonder what cloud computing looks like? Are you looking for examples of successful cloud computing companies, and how what they do interacts with the cloud? Well, we're here to help! Cloud computing is already happening right now on the Kindle, Netflix, the iPhone and the Android AppStores, and all over the business world with applications like DropBox! There's no need to be confused by Cloud Computing! It's a simple, effective way of managing lots of data across a number of applications!
Cloud Computing, Defined Simply
When you stream a movie on Netflix or Hulu, you are in the cloud. When you purchase a song on your iPhone, and download it to your device, you are also in the cloud. When you upload your photos to Facebook or Flickr, you are in the cloud.
Cloud computing means separating the actual files you use from your physical location onto servers that are distant from you, maintained by cloud computing companies. When you store your photos on Flickr, you are relying on a server team to backup and maintain your data instead of doing it for yourself.
You access your data over networks and the internet! You access it anywhere, on any machine or web-surfing device, like your smart phone or your netbook!
Cloud Computing for Businesses
Businesses are excited by the Cloud Computing future, because it takes away the danger of losing data on an individual user's machine, and uploads all that data to servers that could be at the home office, or could be rented from reliable Cloud Computing companies like Google and Amazon. By offloading their data storage, companies reduce their overhead because they don't need to worry about onsite data storage. All of it is handled in the Cloud!
Latest versions of popular software, like Microsoft Office, are now Cloud-Compatible, and ready to plug-in to the business network no matter where in the world that individual user happens to be. Your office is probably already working in the Cloud, and the transition was so seamless that all you noticed was installing the latest version of Microsoft Office!
Cloud Computing for Consumers through Netflix, Hulu, Kindle, Nook, and more!
What do the Kindle, the Nook, the Google Android, the iPhone, the iPad, the Netbook, Hulu, and Netflix all have in common? You guess it: They're in the Cloud!
Anytime a consumer accesses individual files full of complex data, like a movie or an eBook or a song, over the internet, that consumer is in the Cloud! Streaming movies off Netflix and Hulu is the most common Cloud activity out there, followed closely by shopping for apps on the various appstores!
Even when you purchase individual files, like Nook and Kindle eBooks, or AngryBirds for your iPad, all of your account data, and the backups for those files you purchased, is located on servers far away from your device! You don't purchase the file. You purchase the right to download the file! This is an important distinction in Cloud Computing, because you don't own the things you purchase. You have the right to download it once, but you do not have permission to distribute the files beyond the scope of the End-User-License-Agreement of your device and the program you purchase. You paid a small fee not to buy a file, but to access the cloud where that file was contained!
You've probably been living with Cloud Computing a long time without even realizing it!
The Future of Cloud Computing
Analysts predict strong financial benefits to investing in Cloud Computing companies, but only time will tell if these predictions come true. The world is moving forward very quickly to a cloud future. The cost of buying a cloud-capable computer is lower than buying an equivalent machine that can contain the same capabilities in media storage. Imagine having all the DVDs of every movie you can access through streaming Netflix? By moving all that data to the cloud, the consumer's life is freed of the burden of possessions that accumulate.
As consumers, if you aren't backing up your data at DropBox, you are missing out! Cloud Computing makes your data safer, by taking it away from where criminals can easily access it: your hands! Security is another huge advantage of the cloud computing model! Instead of relying on your own abilities to repel hackers through imperfect, over-the-counter anti-virus software, consumers can work through dedicated app stores where industry professionals carefully vet every file that can be downloaded to your machine! Consumers can keep their vital files and information in data storage that only a seasoned hacker could access! You don't have to worry about someone running away with your laptop, or smartphone, if your data isn't physically located on it!
The technology is here, and has the advantages of security, ease of use, and low start-up cost! The cloud is here, whether we like it or not, and capitalizing on the advantages of cloud computing can lead to a zen-like calm where spilled coffee doesn't lead to lost files, and no one has to move piles of boxes full of DVDs and Books every time they move!
