What is Cloud Computing

In recent years, there has been a lot of “buzz” about so-called Cloud Computing. But what is it exactly? In this entry we will try to answer this question, peer into the future of Cloud Computing, as well as explain why it is so attractive to business owners.

You might hear the term “Horizontally Scalable” a lot from now on. If a network architecture is “Horizontally Scalable” this means that is easy to increase the capacity (performance, ram, speed, etc.) simply by adding on a new “node” (for example, a new physical server). The new node increases the power of the existing architecture in a seamless way. It is as if it has merged with the existing system. As an example, imagine that your employee base has rocketed from 50 employees to 1000 employees because you are getting so many new clients and work (a great problem to have!), instead of investing in new expensive servers and infrastructure to replace your current systems, you would simply add nodes. Instead of exponentially increasing costs, your costs increase at a far lower rate than your technological capacity. Cloud Computing embraces this principle.

Another key concept in Cloud Computing is “Software as a Service”, or (SaaS). The idea behind this concept is that software, and data are “Served” to the client (the machine and user requesting it) from your central technology infrastructure (Your Cloud), and are not explicitly installed or ran from the client machine. This provides many benefits in maintaining and upgrading your Information Technology infrastructure.

» Read more: The Future of Computing and Networks: Living on Cloud 9