Cloud Computing for Small Businesses

In this blog, we will read more about cloud computing and its benefits for small businesses. Cloud computing is an Internet-based capability that allows users to access shared computer applications, storage through a network of remote servers, so each individual user does not need to install hardware and software on their on-site server and personal computer.

This is as good as renting a service than buying a product. This has too many benefits to small business owners like-

• Security,
• Flexibility,
• Accessibility,
• Time,
• Cost,
• Energy Consumption,
• Competitiveness and
• Disaster Recovery.

Security: - Bloomberg business week’s article says that 800,000 laptops are lost or stolen from airports alone every year. If we keep storing all of your data on a laptop or mobile device, this information can be easily stolen. However, If you implement cloud computing, you can access and work on your applications – the data itself will not be stolen with the laptop as you require user name and password to get into the cloud where data is saved.

Flexibility & Accessibility: - Cloud computing gives you the ability to access, modify and save files from any number of devices in any location. Cloud computing opens this up and allow you to access your files from any laptop, computer, phone or tablet which is connected to internet.

Cost and Back up:- In cloud computing, you only pay for what you need and use. When you expand your business and need more, you can pay more and vice versa. It is quick & cheap to deploy, easy to access and customise. The latest versions are always there on the cloud so there is no need to continuously replace out of date resources with more expensive programs and technologies.

         The security aspects of the cloud and disaster recovery are other excellent benefits. Your data is secure because it is saved remotely in the cloud, and recovery times are almost 4 times faster for businesses using cloud computing when compared to those not utilising these services. 

Further Benefits: - For small businesses, Staying competitive can be difficult for when they are lacking resources and finances but cloud computing now makes this a real possibility. The service providers deal with all of the technical side of things, saving you a great deal of money and time to focus on other areas of your business. According to Sales Force, cloud will consume 30% less energy and produce considerably less carbon emissions than those using on-site servers.

Hope you enjoyed reading this blog. Please visit www.indapoint.com for IT Software related services.

What cloud computing really means

The next big trend sounds nebulous, but it's not so fuzzy when you view the value proposition from the perspective of IT professionals. Cloud computing is a type of computing that relies on sharing computing resources rather than having local servers or personal devices to handle applications.

 

In cloud computing, the word cloud (also phrased as "the cloud") is used as a metaphor for "the Internet," so the phrase cloud computing means "a type of Internet-based computing," where different services -- such as servers, storage and applications -- are delivered to an organization's computers and devices through the Internet.

Cloud computing is comparable to grid computing, a type of computing where unused processing cycles of all computers in a network are harnesses to solve problems too intensive for any stand-alone machine.

The goal of cloud computing is to apply traditional super computing, or high-performance computing power, normally used by military and research facilities, to perform tens of trillions of computations per second, in consumer-oriented applications such as financial portfolios, to deliver personalized information, to provide data storage or to power large, immerse computer games.

To do this, cloud computing uses networks of large groups of servers typically running low-cost consumer PC technology with specialized connections to spread data-processing chores across them. This shared IT infrastructure contains large pools of systems that are linked together. Often, virtualization techniques are used to maximize the power of cloud computing.

Cloud Computing Standards

The standards for connecting the computer systems and the software needed to make cloud computing work are not fully defined at present time, leaving many companies to define their own cloud computing technologies.  Cloud computing systems offered by companies, like IBM's "Blue Cloud" technologies for example, are based on open standards and open source software which link together computers that are used to to deliver Web 2.0 capabilities like mash-ups or mobile commerce.

Cloud Computing in the Data Center and for Small Business

Cloud computing has started to obtain mass appeal in corporate data centers as it enables the data center to operate like the Internet through the process of  enabling computing resources to be accessed and shared as virtual resources in a secure and scalable manner.