Computing in the cloud

Recently the internet and business media has been awash with the term “Cloud computing” and talk of it as the next big thing in the world IT. So what is it and what are some of the positives and negatives? 

So what is it?  

DEISA (the Distributed European Infrastructure for Supercomputing Applications) defines Cloud Computing as a “paradigm focusing on provisioning of metered services related to the use of hardware, software platforms, and applications, billed on a pay-per-use base, and pushed by vendors such as Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Salesforce, Oracle, and others”.

Others like the Gartner Group refer to it as "a style of computing where massive scalable IT-enabled capabilities are delivered as a service to external customers using Internet technologies." Amazon sees it as "Easy, secure, flexible, on demand, pay per use, self serve." And yet others describe ”Cloud Computing” as: a way to increase capacity or add capability on the fly without needing to invest in new infrastructure, training, new personnel, or licensing new software. 

The up side

 While still a new market it is providing the possibility to grow faster and access equipment and facilities that may not have been previously available.

The down side

The “down side” of the cloud is to be found mainly in the legal considerations and the issues arising from “cloud computing” arrangements. Arrangements that usually involve complex contracts, that are more often than not, governed by foreign laws. As has been said: 

“By far the biggest warning cloud experts give small businesses is to read over contracts closely and determine where your data is being stored, and figure out whether you have any say in where that happens.”

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