Cloud Computing

Good morning everyone! Today's blog post focuses on Cloud Computing, delving into the what's and why's of one of the most advancing technologies at present time.

What is Cloud Computing? 

Cloud Computing is actually a rather ambiguous term, with very few people knowing what the true meaning of it is yet millions of people are using it every day, possibly without even realising it.

In basic terms, Cloud Computing is the connection of a variety of computers that work in real-time with each other (over an Internet connection) which allows you to have access to your software or data any-time, anywhere on desktops, laptops, tablets and mobile phones. Prime examples of this in everyday life are:

• Email accessible via the web such as Hotmail and Microsoft Exchange - Which stores all of your emails and contacts.
• Social networking sites - Which stores all of your contacts, photographs, videos etc. This also includes blogging!
• File Storage - Which stores all of your files and documents (examples include Dropbox)
• Business software accessible via web browser - Which stores all of your business information securely and provides business capabilities such as adding, editing, deleting and viewing your data at the touch of a button. 

What are the Benefits? 

Convenient and Low Maintenance

When using Cloud Computing, storage maintenance of your data is controlled by the management team and data storage company; therefore you will not have the worry of maintaining it yourself.

This is great for individuals who are storing their music or documents as they can leave their music and documents on there with knowledge that their information will be safe. A lot of people (like myself) use services such as Dropbox to make online backups of any work I have done, to reduce the possibility that my work will be lost if my computer hardware failed. (We've all been there and got the T-shirt! Particularly that hard drive wipe right before a tight deadline... Though thankfully I did have a backup).

In terms of businesses, particularly those who don't have their own IT team or who have more "important" business processes to worry about, they can create backups with the knowledge that their data will be maintained and well looked after by a specialist team.

Scalable

As your business grows, you can invest in a greater storage space to fit your exact storage needs and requirements (and only pay for exactly what you are using). If a business is growing particularly rapidly, it can be deemed a waste of money to keep upgrading hardware in order to keep up with demand. With Cloud Computing, you won't have to worry about any of the hardware practicalities at all, you will only have to pay the standard fee for using that amount of space.

Protected and Secure

Cloud storage can be a much safer option for your data than through using your own servers. This removes the danger of physical and criminal damage wiping out your stored data. When data is sent between you and the storage providers, they always use secure communication links and data is
always encrypted when transmitted or stored on their server.

What are the Potential Risks? 

Reliability

Quite probably the biggest concern is that if you lose your Internet connection, you will lose access to all of your saved data. While this is an issue, more free WiFi spots are becoming available so you can use these if your own connection fails. This is why you should always have a backup plan in case something like this occurs.

Downtime is a rarity for the actual Cloud Service Provider themselves as they give out warnings when any maintenance will be carried out in advance and always try to provide the shortest amount of downtime possible. 

Cost Effectiveness

As a small or medium sized business, you will need to justify your costs as Cloud storage can be quite expensive (after all, you are having your data stored and maintained for you!). However what you have to consider is that as time goes on and technology develops, more and more services are offering the Cloud as a service, therefore making it cheaper. Shop around for the best deal that suits your individual needs!

Beliefs Surrounding Security Issues Conceived From the Media

When Cloud Computing was first created, there were concerns surrounding the security of passing your data onto someone else and trusting it on their servers. Seeing as you are losing some of your control, it is understandable why some people could be sceptical of seeing their data stored with somebody else. Cloud Service Organisations realise this and have put in strict policies from their end. Make sure you review the provider's security policies before you decide to use them! 

Security is moving forward though (particularly with social media websites) as they have included ways to control your own data privacy so you feel a lot more in control of what you want other people to see and what you want hidden. 

Current Trends

Technology is improving all the time and as time goes on, more and more companies are switching to the Cloud as a way of storing their data. The image below shows some interesting statistics on the popularity and growth of Cloud Computing (All credit for this image goes to Cloud Hypermarket - taken from their article on The Cloud Revolution):

Future Trends? 

At the end of 2012 and the beginning of 2013, Microsoft started collecting information from organisations over a 6 month period using a Cloud Security Readiness Tool. The aim was to provide an evaluation for each organisation filling in the survey, in order to open their mind to what Cloud solutions they can implement in the future to enhance their business processes. For more information and access to this report (which does make interesting reading) you can find it here (All credit for this report goes to Microsoft):

Microsoft Trends in Cloud Computing

This leads me onto the "real reason" why I felt it was necessary to discuss Cloud Computing now...
Microsoft have just released their first preview of SQL Server 2014 and it will be heavily focused on In-Memory database tables and the incorporation of Cloud technologies to make it easier to deploy your database in a Cloud environment. Stay tuned as I will be installing the CTP1 version (which can be found here) tonight and I will be blogging about it in more depth tomorrow!

As A Final Word... 

Thank you for reading today's blog post! If you have any questions/comments/feedback, please leave them in the comments section below and I will get back to you as soon as I can. Alternatively, please like my SQL Genius Facebook Page and leave a message on there. Thanks! :)