LECTURE 5

Why Cloud Computing ?

Why do people use cloud computing? The Pew Internet & American Life Project5 noted several reasons: 51 percent of users who take advantage of cloud computing do so because it is easy and convenient; 41 percent do so because of the advantage of being able to access data from any location and any computer; and 39 percent do so because it promotes easy sharing of information.

The advantages below all point to main streaming of the technology. 

• Collaboration • Scalability • Better performance • Reliability • Simplicity  

The last point, simplicity, is perhaps one of the greatest driving forces of the cloud. Let's face it, there is an element of laziness involved, and that's okay. Workers everywhere want their jobs to be easier. Cloud computing provides that.

Working at home in the past, may have required a user (or the user's admin) to pre-load software into the user's home computer, and install special logins for accessing the corporate server. More often than not, that burden just led people to inaction, which resulted in fewer telecommuting opportunities. Cloud computing simplifies the entire process by removing the need for client software and by abstracting the data and application servers. Simply put, if it's easy, workers will go for it. And in the end, that helps the corporation get things done. Business users, consumers, and software developers ignore cloud computing at their own peril. Remember when Windows first came out, and there was still a large contingent of people who insisted on sticking with the command-line interface? Those who resist the cloud model are in the same category today. Cloud computing and SaaS is increasingly impossible to ignore. 

Why? Everything in computing has led to this moment. Web 2.0 technology first gave us a little taste of what true interactivity and collaboration over the Internet could do for us. While earlier Internet sites gave us information on static web sites, Web 2.0 raised the bar with blogs, social networking, instant connectivity, and a new level of interactivity over the web. Instead of just reading a web site, we could interact with it. We could send feedback. Take polls. Search for products we like, compare prices, and see what other people thought. We could hold web conferences and use things like shared whiteboards. These Web 2.0 innovations put us all in the mindset of free collaboration, unfettered by physical boundaries. Web 2.0 made it possible for the first time to hold a productive conference for example, between people in Chicago, Delhi, and London. We have gotten accustomed to Web 2.0 innovations and cannot go back to the way it was, and we want more. Cloud computing was the next logical step. Cloud computing has gone mainstream also because of the presence of a robust infrastructure. Virtualization technology has come to the fore, and this too serves a major role in letting vendors deliver SaaS services and in letting companies gain access to infrastructure services without large capital expenditures. 

More reasons shown below:

Cloud as-a Necessity

Technologies become essential when they become a part of the very fabric of society. They become essential when they become disruptive. There are a great many new technologies that appear every year, and many of them are technologies designed to make things simpler, cheaper, and more convenient. Yet, most of them do not fall into the category of disruptive technology—or a technology that results in far-reaching and important changes in the way people work, think, do business, and communicate. 

Cloud computing is one of those disruptive technologies. 

• Cloud computing changes the way we work. The very nature of what a "job" is, is changing. We work from home. We work as contractors. We telecommute, work from on the road, and increasingly, pay no attention to the physical boundaries of the corporate brick and mortar walls.

• Cloud computing changes the way we think. Old barriers are being broken down. We're no longer afraid to think outside the box, because the box no longer exists.

• Cloud computing changes the way we do business. The collaborative technologies that are enabled by the cloud let us take advantage of outsourcing, focusing on our core goals while letting other experts take care of what they do best on our behalf.

• Cloud computing changes the way we communicate. Is it necessary to get on a plane, or drive across town for a meeting? Increasingly, the answer is no. New types of communication allow us to work closely with partners, remote employees, and suppliers around the world as if they were right there in our office. 

What does cloud computing mean to me?

Cloud computing doesn't work unless every stakeholder has something in it for them. Every party involved can benefit, if it is implemented correctly, from the end user, to the entrepreneur, the CEO who wants to cut costs, the project manager, IT people, and third party providers. If you think that cloud computing doesn't affect you, think again. 

A recent study by the Pew/Internet and American life Project reported that 69 percent of all Internet users make use of some sort of cloud computing service, and that number is growing. Do you use one of the free public email platforms like Hotmail or Gmail? Take advantage of one of the many online file storage services? Store your vacation photos online? Then you use cloud computing. The applications go far beyond those three simple examples, but the trend is noteworthy. Most people use cloud computing, even if they have never heard of the term. 

These simple consumer applications of cloud computing also highlight an interesting trend. The most successful technologies are those that have penetrated both the consumer and the business markets. Cell phones, once tools of the rich and famous, are now used by everybody and can be had at any department store for fifteen dollars for a basic model. Social networking tools started out as consumer-based applications used for fun and friendship, but are now widely used as vital tools for business marketing and project collaboration. And now, cloud computing also  carries equal weight in the consumer and business realms. If cloud computing hasn't touched you yet, chances are, it will in the near future.