What Cloud Computing Can Do For You
I know that Infoworld declared cloud computing “all the rage” back in April, but it now seems to have reached a tipping point. Just last week I came across Michael Dell and Marc Benioff sounding off in Forbes.com, I received an email from The QuestionPro Blog about cloud connectors, read about “Why Private Cloud Computing Is Beginning to Get Traction” in eWeek and learned about a CloudCamp Computing Conference. And, of course, since it was the election week, the talk about cloud computing even turned to politics with techies asking” “What Does The Obama Revolution Mean to Cloud Computing?”
If I am coming across cloud computing on a daily basis, its clearly become mainstream. But, how exactly is cloud computing green? Well, Kevin Jackson mused about this on his blog and asserts that The Economist provides the perfect answer:
“In future the geography of the cloud is likely to get even more complex. “Virtualisation” technology already allows the software running on individual servers to be moved from one data centre to another, mainly for back-up reasons. One day soon, these “virtual machines” may migrate to wherever computing power is cheapest, or energy is greenest. Then computing will have become a true utility—and it will no longer be apt to talk of computing clouds, so much as of a computing atmosphere.”
Where does the opportunity lie for eco-entrepreneurs? “How Cloud Computing Makes Everyone an Entrepreneur” lays it all out nicely:
“…everyone is good at something and that something [with the help of cloud computing] could be turned into a business.”
They tell the story of Lauren Luke, who lives in Tyneside, U.K. and makes highly successful YouTube videos of how to apply makeup. With help of YouTube all the barriers to entry typically facing entrepreneurs – lack of capital, lack of technological know-how, lack of staff – never got in her way.
How does it all work? This time the MIT/Stanford Venture Lab seems to have the answer:
“Cloud computing increases capacity and expands computing capabilities without heavy investment in infrastructure, training or software licensing. Most importantly though it democratizes Web 2.0 application development. With the removal of two significant barriers to entry – cost and capacity access – suddenly even small, lesser-funded entrepreneurs can dream big and bring their grand Web 2.0 applications to market.”
Dreaming big. Now that’s what its all about.
Photo: Jay Simmons
Thanks for this. I have forwarded it to a relative who is directly involved in eco-friendly computerized agriculture techniques.
With computing going virtual this may turn out to be a great opportunity for developing countries with relatively low infrastructure costs to house data centers. The flip side is that users may not know where their data is ultimately being stored or whether they should be concerned about security.
Thanks, Shirley. I hope it helps!
Good point, Global Patriot. I’m sure security, and storage, are going to become central issues going forward.
Hey Jennifer!
Great post!
I’ve been reading many things related to Cloud Computing and is actually exciting bumping into articles where you can read about some of the benefits of it!
I’m linking this post on my blog today as a reference!
Tks,
Maisa.
Thanks Maisa. And thanks for the love. Your blog (icloudtoday.tumblr.com) is awesome too!
Cloud Computing is a great idea, especially when traffic is dramatically lower for websites. Why not save using tons of electricity with more servers than you really need.
pays to live green – I agree! Thanks for the comment.
For those of you tried, my link was broken – sorry. All good now….