Newsletter #137 Should You Be Cloud Computing?

Created on Sep 29 2009 12:00AM

Feature Article

The term cloud computing is one that appears regularly in business news these days, yet it is a concept that has been around for a while. In fact we first wrote about Net-based applications and ASPs (Application Service Providers) back in June 2001!

Cloud computing can be defined as anything that delivers hosted services over the Internet. Some of its features are:

• It is sold on demand, by the minute, hour or month
• It is elastic: a user can have as much or as little of the service at any time
• The consumer needs only an Internet connection, a computer and a browser as the infrastructure and software is managed by the provider

The term cloud computing was inspired by the cloud symbol that is often used to represent the Internet in flow charts and diagrams.

Salesforce.com was one of the first examples of cloud computing by providing Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software via this method in 1999. This highly successful company is still in operation and is now within the S&P500 (the top 500 companies listed in the US).

Amazon played a key role in developing cloud computing by providing access to their services via Amazon Web Services in 2005.

Google has taken cloud computing to a new level by offering basic desktop applications like calendar, email, word processing and spread sheeting via their Google Apps system.

So what are the advantages of cloud computing?

• It avoids capital expenditure as most services are billed like a utility with little upfront cost
• Users can rapidly and inexpensively change requirements using the elasticity feature noted above
• Services can be used wherever there is an Internet connection, providing far more flexibility where users telecommute or travel regularly out of the office
• Reliability can be improved as cloud computing facilities have multiple redundant sites making them more resistant to disasters or data loss situations
• Software changes and upgrades are far more seamless as only one system needs to be upgraded
• Successful providers have far more resources to improve things like:
  The security of the centralized data
  The efficiency and usability of the service
  Access to mobile devices
• Connectivity between applications can be improved by APIs over the Internet

There are disadvantages of course:

• Your data is in the hands of your provider and centralized data can be a target for hackers and criminals
• If your Internet connection is not fast or reliable, your use of a cloud computing application can be frustrating
• If the system is unavailable your support contacts may not be in this country, slowing response times
• Your freedom to change or customise the application is normally restricted

Google claims in its official blog that "Over 1.75 million businesses, schools and organizations have gone Google" and are using Google Apps.

Despite the risks of cloud computing applications, they are rapidly changing the way we think about software and files. The benefits for many organisations will outweigh the potential disadvantages as they move software and data into the cloud.

Hot Tips

Newbies

An easy way to bookmark a site, and put it somewhere visible so you don't forget it, is to use the Links/Bookmarks (Firefox) toolbar. Far better than using Favourites or Bookmarks!
In Internet Explorer your Links toolbar might be turned off. See this page for instructions: http://malektips.com/internet_explorer_7_0007.html. In Internet Explorer or Firefox visit the Website you want to add and then left click on the icon just to the left of the address bar, keep the button down and then drag to the Links toolbar and release. See the instructions and video on this page http://malektips.com/internet_explorer_7_0006.html

Power Users

In IE or Firefox you can also create folders on the Links/Bookmarks toolbar.
In Firefox you need to go Bookmarks/Organise Bookmarks and then right click on the Bookmarks Toolbar and choose "New Folder". Then you can drag Websites into it as in Newbies above.
In Internet Explorer go Favourites/Organise Favourites click on Links then Create Folder or New Folder.

Interesting Sites

Userfly is usability testing on the fly! The site allows you, once you've installed some code on your site, to see video capture of how people are actually using your Website. If you quickly want to see how usable (or not) your site is, this might be worth a look. http://userfly.com

InsiteFul Quotes

"If you do not know where you are going, every road will get you nowhere." Henry Kissinger

You can see our other Quick Quotes on the front page of www.netinsites.com; just refresh the page to see another one randomly selected from our database. Great for presentations or times when you want to appear to be a techno-dude(ss)!

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Best wishes

Alex Garden

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