Cloud Computing I have to be honest I am one of those people who is a bit clueless when it comes to the cloud. When the option pops up on my kindle or on my phone to save it to the Cloud I always wonder if I should or shouldn’t. However it is clear that Cloud computing has been taking corporations around the world by storm. In an era that involves more and more telecommuting than ever before we are seeing companies moving over to cloud computing. This makes financial sense for many companies. [1]The nature of the cloud means IT departments can shift their focus, taking IT from being an unavoidable cost centre to being an epicentre for value creation. [2] Cloud computing comes into focus only when you think about what IT always needs: a way to increase capacity or add capabilities on the fly without investing in new infrastructure, training new personnel, or licensing new software. There are many uses for Cloud computing a few of which I will speak to briefly. The first of many is Web services. Some of the web services offered in the Cloud for example are Saleforce, Google Maps, Bloomberg, ADP, Strike Iron, and even credit card processing services are all services that can be utilized through the cloud without the need for a full blown application. AT&T offers some great cloud solutions for enterprise companies. However there are quite a few companies that offer Cloud Computing services each with their own specific targeted niche. Google for example focuses primarily on small businesses, enterprise companies and colleges. One of the things that Google is doing is allowing developers to build an infrastructure and Google hosts it with their applications. Another company offering Cloud computing services is GoGrid with their niche market being primarily startup and Web 2.0 companies. [3] Cloud offering: The GoGrid platform offers Web-based storage and the ability to quickly deploy Windows- and Linux-based virtual servers onto the cloud, with preinstalled software including Apache, PHP, Microsoft SQL and MySQL. Other companies like Microsoft, Amazon and Netsuite are just a few of the other companies in the market offering these cloud services. Like anything else there are going to be drawbacks to using Cloud computing that need to be considered, one being the internet. In order to use the cloud there must be internet available. This is a risk for corporations to take because as we all know the internet often goes down at any given time. Data could be lost or you could be in the middle of a presentation. So while it makes telecommuting easier and is a cost saver there are always going to be downsides. 1. http://www.guardian.co.uk/media-network/media-network-blog/2013/jul/24/cloud-computing-transforming-workplace 2. http://www.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/what-cloud-computing-really-means-031 3. http://www.networkworld.com/supp/2009/ndc3/051809-cloud-companies-to-watch.html?page=3