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computing technologies. This can help organisations take the burden
of acquisition of servers, software, and people that are needed to
beef up enterprise services, shared technology solutions, and deployment
of customised or custom off-the- shelf solutions.
2. Help save the environment
Organisations that implement cloud computing technologies can have
a significant impact on their ability to reduce their electricity bills
dramatically. Cloud computing helps save the environment because it is
shared infrastructure resources that a vendor provides to an organisation.
Cloud computing vendors that specialise in infrastructure services
have built up data centres around the country and offer their data centres to
other companies. Companies do not need to have their own data centres,
they can just have their applications hosted with these cloud computing
providers to help save energy through sharing resources.
3. Access to information anywhere at anytime
The Internet and cloud computing technology is a winning combination.
These two technologies have allowed vendors to develop a product called
cloud drives; which is an online storage medium that allows people
to save their documents, videos, photos, and music over the Internet.
The advantages of a cloud drive is that it provides the capability for people
to access their information from any computer around the globe at their
convenience. This type of simple technology allows people to become
more productive by improving their access to information. There are a
number of vendors that have entered the cloud computing market to offer
cloud drives such as Google, Amazon, and Dropbox to name a few.
4. Cloud computing solutions are easy to use
The reason why cloud computing is catching on is because of the simplicity
that vendors have been integrating solutions to use this technology in
the first place. People like simplicity, excellent customer service, and more
sophistication in the services that they are receiving from companies. As
long as vendors make it simple and enjoyable to access cloud technologies
then it will become more integrated with other products.
5. Integrate part of a disaster recovery solution
Organisations need to protect their critical data to ensure that they can
provide services to their customers and that they are able to continue
their daily operations to support their corporate mission. Most companies
develop a disaster and recovery plan that discusses the necessary steps that
they need to take for any type of events that a company may face. A company
prepares for these events by having an alternative computing facility to
save mission critical data for the organisation at some remote location
away from the corporate headquarters. Companies also routinely take full and
incremental backups on a daily and weekly basis that is stored on some
type of storage device. Companies can now integrate cloud computing
as a type of storage device that they can integrate with their disaster
recovery plans in addition to the other methods that they are using to save
their data. Having a cloud storage solution helps provide additional
safeguard procedures to help ensure
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that customer data will be safe and that your organisation will continue to
operate based on any type of event.
6. Will lead to new product and platform innovation
The need for new product ideas and innovation is critical to the success
and growth of the global economy. These new product innovations
can come from improving on older technologies or collaborating with
existing technologies to form new ones. Cloud computing is positioned
to be an important ingredient that companies can use to bundle with
other services that can provide customers with new experiences. The
number of possibilities that companies can combine with cloud computing is
infinite and we are excited about the future innovations that may rise from
this technology. We are already seeing innovations from companies such as
Amazon, Google, Rackspace, IBM, and Microsoft. Cloud computing is new
technology that has just begun to assemble the policies, technologies,
disciplines and is not at a mature state yet. There is so much potential to
grow this domain forward and it will be exciting to see what will happen
in the next ten years in the evolution of the cloud. We expect to see more
synergies from different technologies and possibly more collaborations from
vendors in offering customers better solutions.
These are some example product exist in the market:
• amazon.com • ATT
• iCloud • Dropbox
• Evernote • Google Drive
• Skydrive • 4shared
• Mediaire
Conclusion
The tight relationship between cloud computing, virtualisation, and shared
storage naturally means that virtualisation and shared storage will increase in
importance. The new utility model for IT services breaks the conventional
technology, people, and process barriers that applications and information haven
been confined to. Cloud computing is a new computing paradigm that is still
emerging. Technology advances are expected to improve performance and
other qualities of services from public clouds, including privacy and security.
Many agency systems are long lived and, if transitioned to a public cloud, will
likely experience technology and other changes over the course of their lifetime.
Cloud providers may decide to sell or merge their offerings with other
companies; service offerings may be eclipsed by those of another cloud
provider or fall into disfavour; and organisations may be required to re-
compete an existing contract for cloud services, when all contractual obligations
are exhausted. Eventually having to displace some systems to another public
cloud is a distinct possibility that federal agencies and other organisations should
not dismiss.
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References
1. http:www.nist.gov 2. www.Wikipedia.org
3. http:www.examiner.comarticlewhy-cloud- computing-is-important
4. www.crn.com 5. www.amazon.com
6. www.howstuffworks.com
