Cloud computing is the latest buzzword in the information technology world. Everybody is in it. Most famous of it is the Amazon’s cloud. This of course comes after twitter has taken the top 5 places.
A little bit of low-down on how I understand cloud computing.
Your data sits on a space called cloud. The same cloud can host data of some other people as well. You will access this cloud as and when you require it and pay accordingly.
If a blog is hosted on a cloud, you pay for the amount of storage you have consumed and the amount of bandwidth you are using. It is pay as you use against what the regular hosting companies charge (500 GB storage and 1 GB bandwidth).
The benefits of cloud computing are numerous. It will be hugely beneficial for startups that don’t have a long-term strategy or who cannot assess what the future looks like. The cloud will scale as per their requirements. It is good for blogs, which are growing at a rapid space.
What about the rest? Is this something, which can be used, in large corporate who know their requirements very well and whose IT strategy is well defined?
I hate to use this cliché but as they say the proof is in the pudding. The jury is still out and only time will tell.
If I don’t have to use those politically correct clichés, here is my 2 cents. May be worth even more but you are the judge.
Cloud as a long or short term strategy for large corporate (let’s a say $1bn large) will not work. Corporate’s just do not trust their data with Amazon or some other provider. Large corporate’s need control on their data. They need to shut down or start up. They would not invest in something, which they don’t have control on even if it costs half as much.
Databases, ERP’s cannot move to cloud.
For startups, yes they can. But, once your company ceases to be startup you will invest in something trustworthier.
For everything else like the desktop applications, word processors, spreadsheets cloud is a way to go.
If you were a part of a large corporation would you trust your data on a cloud? Hypothetically speaking, can ICICI Bank move to cloud?
PS : Clouds are something which you can see but can’t touch. The same thing applies in this cloud too.
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