What is the cloud? 

What is the cloud? 

Cloud. It’s a common term we hear these days! Though what exactly is this mysterious thing people speak of? In short, the cloud is really just a compilation of other people’s computers. No, really. Just take a look at the definition.

a network of remote servers hosted on the Internet and used to store, manage, and process data in place of local servers or personal computers.

Okay, jokes aside. The cloud is a generic term for remote computing. There are many types of clouds, clouds for personal storage (such as Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, Microsoft Onedrive, etc), clouds for development storage (expandable, and infinite. S3, Google Cloud, B2), clouds for computing (Azure, Amazon EC2, etc). Many types for many uses.

Why might the cloud be of interest to you? Well, a couple reasons.

  • Availability
    • The idea of the cloud is that it can be accessed from anywhere. Any device.
  • Reliability
    • Cloud companies have a reputation to keep up with their customers. They want to keep whatever you put on their cloud safe and up/running.
  • No Maintenance
    • You don’t have to worry about maintaining equipment
  • Chances are, you’re already on the cloud
    • Most large companies nowadays are shifting to cloud storage. If you’re on Facebook or any social media, you’re already in the cloud of sorts.

What about cloud security? While companies will do their best to keep your data secure. It’s important to keep an eye on privacy policies, terms of service and the like. No online computer is immune to being hacked, no matter what measures are in front of it. If you want to protect sensitive data, encrypt it before uploading (this is what we do with our backup service) to the cloud or keep it off the cloud. Also check out this article on cloud security. 

What cloud do you recommend? This comes down to your personal needs. Contact me on this one. Drop me you email address via the chat in the bottom right. 

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