Cloud Computing: Definition, Advantages and Why You Should Switch
Cloud Computing is the supply of computational equipment and resources on demand in a simple and easy to understand way. The user does not need to know anything about how the technology physically works.
Many of the Leading IT companies such as Microsoft, Google, Apple, Amazon, Dell, Hewlett-Packard and IBM are turning to Cloud computing since it is a convenient service to provide to businesses and users that do not have the time or technical knowledge to do so, cloud computing also saves you the cost of hiring experts to setup your IT infrastructure as well as maintain it.
Businesses of all sizes should use cloud computing, though for different reasons. A small business using cloud computing would be competitive with a bigger company which has greater security and reliability needs. They now have access to the same computing resources in “the cloud”, without having the same upkeep and maintenance costs the bigger company has.
For instance, retail businesses that have multiple store locations nationwide, could save up on time and money by backing up their entire inventory data and systems to the cloud, ensuring the businesses continuity in case of system failure, natural disasters, theft and so on. Cloud also frees businesses from being hardware dependent. Replacing your hardware can be very expensive and with cloud computing it becomes unnecessary.
Companies that create and maintain large amounts of data usually deal with multiple copies of this data on storage mediums such as Hard Drives or DVD’s, cloud eliminates the need for keeping track of all these disks and storing them, especially when using deduplication technology which removes extra copies of the same file from the cloud storage.
One of the big advantages also would be that you will have access to the data from anywhere, lots of cloud backup technologies allow you to access data and download it from anywhere that has internet access, as well as view it and download it on your Smartphone. Given the enormous benefits cloud business computing technology has to offer companies, computer entrepreneurs will surely be thinking of ways to develop it even further.
Another advantage of cloud would be cloud backup. Due to the system’s scalability it expands to fit your needs as you go. Your data can be backed up and stored on the cloud which provides data protection and easy restoration as well as a way to remotely access your data at anytime, from anywhere, which will help guarantee your businesses’ continuity.
For more information about Cloud backup and Disaster Recovery please visit: http://www.genie9.com/cloud/coming_soon.aspx
March 29, 2011 - 6:07 am
With all the advantages, there are still issues with cloud computing. Like when first Hotmail, then Google Calendars, and after that Gmail were lost in the cloud earlier this year. Can we be sure that the data in the cloud are safe? Sometimes even data protection professionals fail, like Carbonite losing several thousands of online backup accounts back in 2009. Are we to make backups of backups of backups?
March 29, 2011 - 7:45 am
Hello, Thank you for your insight, The Cloud has come a long way over the past few years. Reliability, durability and safety are without a doubt some of its major issues. Cloud providers such as Amazon have gone as far as promising 99.999% uptime and reliability guarantee. Unlike Carbonite, which uses their own private storage locations, Amazon is a pure cloud solution with online servers around the world and data duplicated throughout their servers to make sure nothing is ever lost or damaged. This is one of the major reasons our upcoming cloud solution was designed to work with Amazon.
April 4, 2011 - 6:55 am
Do I get it right: you buy storage space from Amazon and then resell it your customers, accompanying it with Genie exclusive services and functionality? Aren’t Carbonite’s own remote servers are cheaper then, without the reselling stage?