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How would you explain cloud computing to someone who is unfamiliar with it?
Certain companies (Microsoft, in particular) have done a good job about spreading cloud computing into mainstream awareness, but many non-tech people are still unfamiliar with what the cloud *really* is and how it works. How would you explain these complex technologies to someone who doesn't get cloud?
Best Answer
- Recommended by:
- Chris Selland,
- Esteban Kolsky
Chris, Andrew and Luke have given great answers. But in an attempt to "dumb it down" even further for those who aren't even "non-tech", I would offer up something like this...
Every day we use resources that enable our daily routines. Things like electricity, water, natural gas, telephones, television, etc. For the vast majority of people these resources are provided by companies that specialize in delivering these services. Why? Because they can create and manage these services on a scale that makes it economically feasible for large numbers of customers to consume at a lower price. And, the customer doesn't have to buy, build and maintain all the equipment required to provide the service. Simply put, this is what cloud computing does for the digital age. And just like the power grid that delivers electricity to your house, the internet delivers these cloud computing services to your home, business, mobile phone, or car.
Then there are lots of variations that can follow. Comparisons of how cable television gave us the option to tailor our viewing experiences, and how cloud-based services offer the same experience. Or, as the transition from POTS to mobile phones allowed us to change how we communicate and interact in terms of time and space, so have cloud-based services. An on and on and on...
This may seem like a very elementary approach given that pretty much everybody under the age of 35 has basically grown up with the "internet of things." But there are still some people out there (my father was one) who have no concept whatsoever of how computers or the internet work. If I had used the term "file" with my father he would have asked "rough or flat bastard?" :)
- Recommended by:
- Goran Kalanj
cloud != internet
i am sorry i am late to this post, but this is a huge problem: correlating the cloud with the internet.
just wanted to add this to the end in case someone reads it and we can start to educate people better about this.
cloud computing requires an open, inter-connected network to function -- that is what the internet it. there is so much more to cloud computing than putting your files online; that is not even the beginning.
my two hopes educating people about cloud computing: it ain't easy -- there is not dumbing it down to say "it is the internet"; and second -- it has so much value and power than just being about files...
sigh
I don't think anybody is suggesting that internet = cloud. It's just a mechanism that delivers cloud services. Obviously you can have a cloud without the internet. IE, private clouds. But I don't think this is a huge problem as you suggest. In terms of "file", I think you are reading too much into a simple example.
hate to break this to you -- private clouds don't exist. they are a misnomer concocted by lazy cios that don't want to learn what clouds are about and want to pretend that they are "cloud savvy". what we call private clouds is no more than web-based interfaces deployed internally and have nothing to do with a cloud. cloud requires an open, interconnected network on which to run (the internet in most cases, and the reason we did not have the possibility to build the cloud until recently, in spite of having models described in academia and books going back to the 1950s). read any definition of cloud, talk to anyone who knows about it, make your choices -- private clouds are the biggest disservice to cloud computing in the history because those that rely on them to say they are "cloud" are bypassing the core concepts of using cloud computing and will not be able to leverage the real cloud.
i have been called wrong many times, but i am a cloud purist because i see the value it can bring and how simply we can destroy that by implementing "interconnected private clouds" which is no more than a new network of VANs from the 1980s.
this is a huge problem, since people think they can simply put stuff online and call it cloud -- and they are missing on the value that cloud can deliver.
- Recommended by:
- Goran Kalanj
Computing involves processors, which transform the data, and the data itself, which requires a storage medium. If one or both of these are located on the Internet somewhere, that's cloud computing (and/or cloud storage).
Cloud computing transforms computing and storage into a service. We used to call it "timesharing" - same thing now, but with much higher speeds, lower costs, higher capacity, and better interfaces on a wide variety of subscriber devices. And the cloud is clearly the future of IT - lower costs, improved availability, reliability, and integrity, and vastly improved scalability and convenience. I am looking forward to the day when we buy our last computer.
The reasons why people don't get or understand cloud computing vary, and thus the explanation required will likewise have to vary based on their needs or questions.
The definition I usually start with for people unfamiliar with the concept is, "Internet-based services that can grow as your needs grow." This is most helpful for end-users or small business users.
Dynamic provisioning and scalability are aspects of cloud computing that I mention only if I have to -- typically for enterprise users. Trying to make the complex simple can be fraught with all sorts of peril. I find it more useful to point people to resources that will explain what they need to know at the right depth.
If I'm selling an organization on cloud services, then my goal is not so much to explain the technology as it is to show the value of doing X over doing Y. Getting hung up on technology definitions is actually an impediment to presenting the value proposition in many cases.
A basic overview, with access to more in depth resources, is my preferred approach to this type of education.
Cloud applications means that you do not need to buy hardware and software at your premise to run the applications as these are already provided in a hosting environment. The application is accessible through the internet using any kind of browsers (IE, Chrome, Safari, Firefox, etc.) running in any kind of operating system (Windows, IOS, MacOS, Linux, etc.) and any king of hardware (PC, tablet, smartphone).
Borneosoft CRM (http://www.borneosoft.com) is hosted CRM so it is considered one of the cloud application. As it is already mentioned by Andrew, the services can grow as the user needs grow. New modules in Borneosoft CRM are added without requiring the users to upgrade their hardware/software because there is no installation required on the users environment.
In addition to all great answers this video may also help:
http://www.commoncraft.com/video/cloud-computing
Cloud computing infrastructure enables small and medium size businesses or SMBs to cut costs by outsourcing computing on demand. Cloud computing services ensure the confidentiality and integrity of their clients’ data and computation. Small and medium size businesses can greatly reduce information technology or IT costs by offloading data and computation to cloud computing services.
In the recent past, many small and medium size businesses were reluctant to do so, mostly due to security concerns. But in the current scenario, more and more companies are opting for cloud computing services. Small and medium size enterprises or SMEs are acknowledging the potential benefits that cloud based systems have the ability to provide them. Cloud based systems mitigate the security threats to the minimum levels, and do not allow any loss of customers’ business critical data. Cloud computing infrastructure enables full confidentiality of users’ data.
In the current trend, the focus of computation has shifted with computing jobs migrating outward to the distant data center facilities reached through the Internet. The new regime of computing is not fully a return to the hub and spoke topology of time sharing systems, as there is no hub. A client computer on the World Wide Web can communicate with many servers at the same time, some of which may also be exchanging information among themselves.
Cloud hosting service providers offer services at various layers of the software stack. At the lower layers, Infrastructure as a Service or IaaS providers, such as Amazon, allow their customers to have access to the entire virtual machines or VMs hosted by the providers. A customer, and user of the system, is responsible for providing the entire software stack running inside a virtual machine or VM. At higher layers, Software as a Service or SaaS systems, such as Google Apps, offer complete online applications than can be directly executed by their users.
For more info you can check:
http://www.myrealdata.com/cloud-computing.html
Cloud computing is a marketing term for technologies that provide computation, software, data access, and storage services that do not require end-user knowledge of the physical location and configuration of the system that delivers the services. A parallel to this concept can be drawn with the electricity grid, wherein end-users consume power without needing to understand the component devices or infrastructure required to provide the service.
Cloud computing describes a new supplement, consumption, and delivery model for IT services based on Internet protocols, and it typically involves provisioning of dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources.It is a byproduct and consequence of the ease-of-access to remote computing sites provided by the Internet. This may take the form of web-based tools or applications that users can access and use through a web browser as if the programs were installed locally on their own computers.
Cloud computing providers deliver applications via the internet, which are accessed from web browsers and desktop and mobile apps, while the business software and data are stored on servers at a remote location. In some cases, legacy applications (line of business applications that until now have been prevalent in thin client Windows computing) are delivered via a screen-sharing technology, while the computing resources are consolidated at a remote data center location; in other cases, entire business applications have been coded using web-based technologies such as AJAX.
At the foundation of cloud computing is the broader concept of infrastructure convergence (or Converged Infrastructure) and shared services. This type of data center environment allows enterprises to get their applications up and running faster, with easier manageability and less maintenance, and enables IT to more rapidly adjust IT resources (such as servers, storage, and networking) to meet fluctuating and unpredictable business demand.
Most cloud computing infrastructures consist of services delivered through shared data-centers and appearing as a single point of access for consumers' computing needs. Commercial offerings may be required to meet service-level agreements (SLAs), but specific terms are less often negotiated by smaller companies.
The tremendous impact of cloud computing on business has prompted the federal United States government to look to the cloud as a means to reorganize its IT infrastructure and decrease its IT budgets. With the advent of the top government official mandating cloud adoption, many agencies already have at least one or more cloud systems online
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For a non-techie I'd keep it very simple:
Cloud computing is when your applications and files are on the internet - i.e. in 'the cloud' - instead of on the device itself.
There are pros and cons to cloud computing.
Among the pros - you don't have to worry about hard drives or other types of storage running out or crashing, and you can access those applications and files from anywhere and any device.
Among the cons - your files aren't physically 'with' you anymore, so you need to be doubly-concerned about security. Also if you aren't connected to the internet/'cloud' you can't use those resources.