I suppose the first thing to clear up,the technologies and techniques currently being used in cloud computing are not new.Virtualization has been around for some years and is an integral part of all cloud based solutions. Most people would agree that there is nothing more to cloud computing than a simple re-packaging of existing technologies.

However if we ignore the current hype surrounding the term it’s become clear that cloud computing represents a complete shift in how computational resources are used and will be used going forward.One of the biggest benefits from this shift is “scalability”, In particular the ‘elastic’ nature of cloud scalability – the ability to effectively scale up infinitely but also to scale down as demand decreases.

For example, a new website which traditionally would be forced to invest heavily in infrastructure in preparation for a ‘hoped for’ audience of users could instead use a cloud provider and pay nothing until (and unless) the ‘hoped for’ audience materializes providing a no risk approach for website owners to launch their website or application.Or existing businesses such as florists around valentines day, wine suppliers around christmas might see a surge in seasonal traffic which can now be quickly and easily accomadated during that specific period without being tied into infrastruture overkill for the the rest of the year.

So when users actually look beyond the hype that is “cloud computing” there is a very real benefit to moving more and more of your data beyond the traditional set-ups into a more web centric environment with providers such as dediserve.

In conclusion it seems that cloud computing is more that just a marketing term. It may indeed signal the next evolution in computer systems,even if the jargon does seem to grate.

Tags: cloud computing, Distributed computing, infrastructure, Scalability

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010 at 4:39 pm and is filed under cloud computing, dediserve, infrastructure, virtualisation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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