Cloud Computing

Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is being hailed as an important technological shift which promises to change the face of information technology and data management in not only unprecedented ways but also in ways which are yet to be conceived. In other words, cloud computing is believed to offer a world of limitless potential and opportunity which may transform the ways in which businesses handle, store, access and manage data and the ways in which they deploy the necessary hardware, software and liveware assets for achieving their organizational goals.

Cloud computing refers to the capability to deliver computing as a service, be it raw computing power, generic or specialized software, or storage space. This delivery is done through an interconnected network of computers to users who pay for the respective services as per their use. The reason that these services are known as ‘cloud’ is that the users typically do not know the exact location of their data / programs (all they know is that it is somewhere ‘out there’, or ‘on a cloud’).

Status Quo - On-Premises

Traditionally, most of the computing structures of the business organizations were designed as on in-premises systems. This comprised arrays of servers (number, size and power depending upon the size and computational requirements of the respective organizations), software (generic as well as customized) installed on those same servers and / or workstations, and storage capacity housed in the same place (usually) as the other servers. Businesses, maintained their servers either on their office premises or in dedicated data centres manned by their own people. The amount of work outsourced in this area was usually quite low, owing mainly to concerns related to data security.

Cloud - A New Way to Computing

Cloud is not exactly an entirely ‘new’ way of managing IT infrastructure. It has been around for some time now, though in less enlightened avatars which were not able, on account of various reasons, to make a sizeable impact on the IT culture at that time. However, there were a few instances where businesses operated on a cloud-like framework and achieved success. Salesforce.com’s customer relationship management (CRM) software provided an alternative to on-premise CRM software as long back as 2000, and was successful in achieving reasonable volumes.

In the last 1-2 years, however, cloud computing has caught the imagination of the information technology community (developers as well as end users) in a major way and this has resulted in commensurate growth in not only the revenues from cloud services but also the scope and number of applications of the technology. Though there is still a lot of uncertainty and skepticism about cloud technology, especially among technology professionals