The biggest advantage of cloud computing is ease and speed in setting up platforms and using them, better manageability and less upkeep and being able to keep up with a dynamic, constantly evolving business world, using IT and its resources.
Apple with its iCloud technology allows users to access all their information from contacts to pictures to media files on all its devices, PCs and laptops. We have seen it in other phone models as well and all this is good news because it makes information exchange easier and more proficient.
If you think about it, almost every device, business and IT enabled service is connected to one another with cloud computing. While one is not sure of the origin of this concept being from one specific idea or event, the future of cloud computing demands debate.
While the concept of cloud computing and cloud storage by itself is sound, there are external factors that bring down its core competencies. For instance, in the world of cellphones, one must consider whether there is enough wireless capabilities to run cloud computing or if the mobile networks that deliver phone service to users are geared to handle the strain of all that data being transferred. When it comes to moving your information to cloud, you need to factor in many things like the phone’s storage capacity and the application’s efficiency. A few mobile phone makers have figured this out, like Google with its Google Offline Mail and Amazon with its Silk.
When it comes to accessing cloud storage, the biggest challenge for clients will be the capabilities of the cloud provider. If the storage capacities and performance is not up to the mark then accessing cloud will be a frustrating and ultimately useless process. Thus, while it is all cloud, there are various parameters in them that make one cloud storage service more effective than the other. In this, we must consider RAM, CPU and networking capabilities. While they have been managed well for the most part, the same cannot be said for the secure transfer of data.
Security is vital when there is a need for permanent storage of data. Not just safety, but reliability also becomes of crucial concern here. A good way to ensure both is for providers to make use of Storage Area Network, architecture renowned for its efficacy in this very situation. But then again, this is not foolproof and clients could fall victim to power outages and overloads, slowing down or shutting down their platforms. A solution could be local storage though this too comes with the risk of losing information.
There is another chain of thought that claims cloud computing and storage is not where the future of IT lies. This is because when there is a need for user-specific software or tailor-made hardware and solutions, cloud will not do. What will happen as a result is more and more businesses will start to build a combination of cloud and non-cloud platforms to allow for better usage of resources. Then there is the belief that mainframes might be done away altogether. This could be a bit of a doomsday prophecy considering how those mainframes set up decades ago are still running strong!
In the end cloud computing and cloud storage offer advantages in the form of better business speed, tools, mobility and the moving of massive amounts of data. Among its disadvantages is the worrisome lack of an optimum amount of safety in the transferring of data. Some clients worry that the government could demand and get access to information and there is the worry that the moving of data could slow down or shut down systems, not to mention escalate costs by a lot.
The bottom-line is that cloud computing and cloud storage have the potential of saving millions of dollars for companies and can provide efficient methods to do the same. There is much to be said in terms of the ease this system provides and companies, IT or otherwise should think about proceeding in a phased manner to continue to gain rich benefits from it.
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