What is the cloud? Where is it? Why do we need it? All of these questions I'm asked several times during the week. I figured that the best way to answer all these questions was to answer them once, in a blog, and then send the link to the blog article whenever I'm asked about it. Not a bad idea, but it also started me thinking, since I already know about the cloud and I know how I use it, where's it going? What's the next step for us as users and for those are not users yet? So, I'll try and answer all of these questions in a single blog post (or at least give you my opinions, please don't take anything for fact unless I cite the work). So, without further ado, let's jump in to the cloud.
What is the cloud? Basically the cloud refers to hardware that is connected to the internet, not to your local devices or local network. It's a total maze of servers, routers, switches and services that all provide you with a slightly different version of what you may have already experienced. If you have worked in an office with a server and a basic network, this is pretty similar except for the fact that the server that is holding data for your company doesn't reside down the hall, it resides outside your area somewhere in a giant data center more than likely. The other thing about Cloud services is that the data centers that are holding your data also hold the data of numerous other customers which, just by its very nature gives the datacenter incentive to make sure that the data residing on its hardware is safe and secure. This basically becomes a numbers game and when comparing uptime vs. downtime of a datacenter you need to consider all aspects of those numbers.
Why do we need it? There are several answers to this question so I'll just give you a few, and then you can decide whether or not it might be something for you to look into. The first and primary answer is data redundancy, having multiple copies of your most important files is an absolute necessity when it comes to electronic security of your data. I have several cloud accounts, including iCloud, SkyDrive and Dropbox. There are a multitude of others but I save some of my most important files on each one of them, thus giving me more of a secure feeling when I'm concerned about losing important pictures, like those of my year and a half old grand daughter. The second answer of course is portability, now, instead of carrying a flash drive around (which I still often times do, nothing wrong with it) I have access to these files as long as I have an internet connection so this gives me plenty of options when it comes to making sure I have access to my most important files.
Where is it? In essence, the cloud is everywhere and you can even have a "cloud" in your home. Western digital is coming out with a portable hard drive that actually works the same as a cloud and if you are tech savvy enough to open ports in your home router/firewall you can even access your data from another location just like the big outfits. Also BitTorrent labs is offering a software version of then cloud in a client that links 2 computer and synchronizes the files in each computer. So, as the advances increase so do the features.
So, the final question to answer is "Do you need it?" Obviously only you can answer that question but I do find it to be very useful and I use many cloud services in order to keep my most important files safe and secure and able to be accessed from most locations should I need them. This works great with things like Antivirus tools, networking utilities or any other technical files that I would need to use to get my job done.
I hope you found this post useful and please feel free to comment below if you have any questions or further recommendations as far as cloud products go.
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