what is cloud computing?
DESCRIPTION
What is cloud computing? Breakfast briefing for Impact 21. Dunfermline, Scotland. 31st May 2011TRANSCRIPT
What exactly is cloud computing?And where do I find it?
Cloud computing is about moving stuff online
Who’s got their own power plant?
From here on…• Computing resources will be increasingly online• They will become ubiquitous – you will access
them like you do electricity. Just switch on. Or off.
How we are today (in general)• Local computers• Servers to buy and manage• Software to buy, manage and update locally• Manage gateways for remote access (or not)
How we will be• Someone else manages the servers – we pay for
what we use• Capacity can be upgraded/downgraded on the fly• Software updates happen incrementally and
without any input from us. We’re always up to date
• We can access all our data from anywhere – via desktop PC, laptop, mobile phone. And it’s always in sync. Change a document on your phone and it’s changed when you access it from your desktop
Applications
Infrastructure
Services
Data
Resources
Cloud(onlin
e)
The history of computing on one slide
1957
1970s
1981
You’re probably already using cloud services
What are the benefits of cloud computing?
Financial• Reduce costs – Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)• Large scale infrastructure bring economies of scale• Elastic computing – only buy what you need
• Software as a Service (SaaS) – pay for what you need
Accessibility• Do anything, anywhere• Your office• Their office• Your mobile phone• An internet café• In this country• In any country
• If you can access the internet you can access your workspace
Flexibility• You can scale quickly• Need more server space? Get it in
minutes• Need less server space – scale
back• Need more software user spaces?
Easy• Need fewer? Downgrade your
subscription• Need a different type of software
for one person? Try before you buy and get it in minutes.
• Less of – I’ll check that when I get back to the office
• More of – I can do that now
OK – what are the risks?
Security, Privacy, Reliability• Unauthorised access to cloud data• Loss of data• Loss of access to the internet• Hosting location (data protection
issues)• Security of hosting organisation
It’s a question of balancing risk with
reward
What should I do now?
Next steps• Find out more about cloud computing• Assess what it can do for your business• Talk to the experts about how you make the big
moves
And in the future?• Increasing amounts of data collected which will
influence the way we live• Layering of data – augmented reality• Ability to communicate with customers based on
their location
This list is not exhaustive. By a long way…!
Resources
Cloud resources you can use now
• Office Apps• Google Apps• Google Docs•Microsoft Web Apps• Zoho
• Graphics• Aviary• Photoshop Express• Pixlr
• Meetings• Adobe Connect• Lotus Live•WebEx
• CRM, Projects• Clarizen• Huddle• Salesforce• Basecamp
More
More cloud resources…
• Backup and Storage• Box.net• Dropbox• Carbonite• Amazon S3
• Website and blogging• Blogger• Google sites•Moonfruit•Wordpress
• eMailing•Mailchimp
• Webservices• Google checkout• Google translate• PayPal• RBS Worldpay
• Event management• Eventbrite
Yet more
Reading matter• A brief guide to cloud computing -
Amazon• What is cloud computing? –
Guardian Report• European Union Report on cloud
computing• Cloud Computing Journal• Cloud computing terms you should
know (Tech Republic)• Is the cloud green? Silicon Republic