The name “Cloud computing” was derived from the idea of using a picture of a cloud to represent the internet in computing flowcharts and diagrams.

Typically, deploying and developing a system would take time, space and some investment. Along with that, the system would need a separate team of experts to configure, install and maintain the new system. The system may also require additional infrastructure, such as a data center, additional power, more cooling, and backup solutions. These layers of red tape have been infamously labeled as a “complicated system stack”. When a certain portion of the system breaks down, or if a portion of the system receives an update that renders it incompatible with the rest of the stack, the entire system would not be able to function. It would take additional time and money to troubleshoot the problem within the stack, and this is very unproductive.

Running an application on a computer usually requires the use of some of its local resources. Examples are as disk space, memory (RAM), processing power, and graphics. Depending on the software’s system requirements, a software upgrade may mean a hardware upgrade as well, incurring additional costs, among other burdens.

Cloud computing presents the ability to alleviate that entire burden, together with many other advantages. Cloud computing allows for much more efficient computing by centralizing storage, memory, and processing. Instead of relying on the computer’s local resources to run certain applications, there is a significant shift in the workload. The local computer no longer has to do all the heavy processing work when it comes to running the applications. In fact, the user’s computer simply only needs to be able to run the cloud computing system’s interface software, which can be as simple as a web browser. The network of computers that make up the “cloud” handles the workload and takes care of the rest. Hardware and software demands on the user's side decrease.

A good example of a cloud application would be the popular web-based email client, Gmail. Traditionally, a user would have to install additional software such as Lotus notes or Microsoft Outlook in order to be able to send and receive e-mails through a network. However, to be able to send and receive e-mails via Gmail requires no additional software, and, in fact, requires almost no additional costs at all. What the user would need in order to use the Gmail cloud application is a web browser. The web browser essentially becomes the interface software for the cloud application. At Google, the developers of Gmail, data centers process all the email in a centralized manner before it reaches the user via the interface application (the web browser). As such, the computer’s local resources no longer carry the burden of all the processing workload.

Web browsers have grown to become interfaces for many cloud applications. Internet giant firm Google has developed many “web applications”, which are applications that run in the “cloud”. Google’s “web applications” utilizes the web browser as an interface application for their cloud applications. Another example of a “web application” is Google Docs by Google, which a word processor that runs within a web browser and thus requires no additional installation or configuration. All of the processing is done by Google’s data centers.

Many businesses, both big and small, have started to take advantage of cloud computing. It isn’t hard to see why, especially because cloud computing makes so much more economic sense. Instead of purchasing licenses for numerous copies of Microsoft Word and deploying them to each and every computer (and using up local resources in the process), some businesses have simply opted for alternatives to that popular word processing software, and have since switched to Google Docs. What the local computers in the office would simply need, is to be capable of running a decent web browser, And they are good to go. Yes, it really is not hard to see why cloud computing makes economic sense. Other examples of businesses moving to their computing systems to the “cloud” include switching from locally installed e-mail clients such as Lotus notes or Microsoft Outlook to the web-based email client such as Gmail. Businesses no longer have to invest in the infrastructure and software licenses to use such applications. Instead, businesses can simply just pay for consuming resources as a service and pay only for resources they use with Cloud computing.

Of course, businesses are not the only ones jumping unto the bandwagon. Users at home too, have been able to see and take advantage of the cloud. A good example of this would be the growing popularity of Netbooks – often referred to as “mini laptops”. Netbooks are of smaller form and function than regular Notebooks, and usually ship with smaller local disk space and without an optical drive. Netbooks are a clear indication of how our computing experience have slowly moved unto the “cloud”, thus causing the death of physical media such as large hard drives and optical disks. Home users today use services such as Facebook and Flickr to store their personal photo collections in the cloud, instead of storing them locally on the computer or on other physical media.

Cloud computing is thus the result of advances in client-server technology. It allows consumers and businesses to use applications without installation and access their personal files at any computer with internet access. Cloud computing has shaped the future of computing both as home and at work, and analysts believe that it will continue to do so, making computing easier and possibly more affordable for everyone.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mobileme_Logo.png

http://www.wikinvest.com/concept/Cloud_Computing

http://communication.howstuffworks.com/cloud-computing.htm

http://www.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/what-cloud-computing-really-means-031

http://www.salesforce.com/cloudcomputing/