Computing Edge

Breaking it all down for the ordinary people
I had never heard about the term cloud computing or even cloud hosting until I had to research the topic. However as I began to understand what it was all about, I knew that the many organizations that I had worked for have had experience of cloud computing at enterprise level but we did not give it that specific term.

That is what always happens with new techniques. You start practicing them before you can put a name to them. I have therefore decided to give a brief overview in the simplest terms that I can muster at the moment. Hopefully this will tickle the memory for many readers and they will know what I am talking about as I delve further into the cloud computing revolutionary world.

I cannot really see a major difference between cloud hosting and cloud computing apart from the stages at which the information occurs ( at least at this moment ). It is quite common for the two terms to be used interchangeably and if I spoke to a lay person, they would not be too bothered about the distinction. Essentially cloud hosting is the process of providing computer servers on a remote location to a variety of clients. Cloud computing in the strictest definitions involves the use of those servers to process normal business information. There can be another minor difference in as much as cloud computing can be done locally within the systems of the organization in question.

How it affects you
You may actually be working under a cloud hosting or cloud computing environment ( or probably term as private cloud services for some ), but you will not be aware of the existence of such a mechanism unless you read about it. The first sign that you are operating the system will come when you have to ring to a remote location to deal with a server problem.

I suppose that one of the signs of an effective cloud hosts or cloud computing system will be that the users will not be able to tell the difference between it and other computing systems. However you the employee should take an interest in what is happening because it could have serious implications of your job security.

There is a lot of information about cloud computing and cloud hosting on the internet. Unlike most topics that I have researched, the results for this tend to be quite accurate. In fact you will find that the information contains both the advantages and disadvantages of the system. This is true even where the website indicates that it will be providing this kind of service. You would have thought that ordinarily there would be a reluctance to discuss some of the negative aspects of the two systems. Therefore if you really want to learn about cloud computing or cloud hosting, then the internet can act as a very good source of information.

For those interested in further research there are new developments in the industry which indicate that individual users may be able to access the cloud computing facilities that have traditionally catered for business. Therefore you should not be discouraged from approaching hosting companies such as Rack Space.