Pros And Cons Of Cloud Computing

Cloud computing has many different inferences, but in its simplest description, it refers to a computing application that resides on the Internet instead of your local computer’s hard drive.

Cloud computing is often referred to as Software as a Service (SaaS) in the corporate IT world, as it offers businesses lower startup and maintenance costs for complex applications for an ongoing monthly fee.

Instead of having to buy special machines and special software, getting everything installed and configured, then building a strong backup system, companies can simply buy off-the-shelf, average performance computers, connect them to the Internet, and get started.

The ease of access to high-speed Internet connections and the popularity of Netbooks will likely help push the popularity of cloud computing.

For the average consumer, there are many free and low cost cloud computing options that many have been using for years without realizing what it was called.

Gmail is another good example of a consumer cloud computing offering as it’s a very powerful e-mail system that is entirely housed and processed by Google’s servers. Unlike Microsoft’s Outlook Express, which is also free, you aren’t tied to a single computer to get your e-mail.

Gmail, because it’s in the cloud, can be accessed by any Internet connected computer from anywhere in the world, while those using Outlook Express must go to a specific machine or machines that have been configured to access the mail.

Another comparison is with tax preparation software; you can buy the disk, install it on your own computer (and only use it on that one computer), then be responsible for backup of the data OR you can sign up for an online account (no software to install) that allows you to do your taxes from home or work and eliminates the chances of losing your work if your computer crashes, is stolen or is destroyed in a fire.

Cloud computing offers flexibility, accessibility, transfers the responsibility for backup and upgrades to the host and is infinitely ’scaleable’ to as many users as have access to an Internet connection.

The downside to cloud computing is that if you don’t have access to the Internet, your connection goes down, or the hosts servers get overloaded or attacked, you have no way to process your data or run your business.

If you run your business on a Gmail account, for example, and something happens to Google’s mail servers, (as has happened on several occasions, generally for short periods) then you are unable to communicate with your customers during the outage.

Twitter’s recent Distributed Denial Of Service attack that brought it down for several hours underscored what happens when millions of users rely on even a free service. Those that relied on Twitter as part of their business model were temporarily out of business with no alternatives during the outage.

Another concern with cloud computing is data security; since it’s in the cloud it’s exposed to the various ways that data can be compromised on the Internet.

The reality is that data is equally as exposed to security issues when it resides on local hard drives or local servers (viruses, Trojans, keyloggers, employees, etc.) so the issue isn’t which is more secure, but which are you more comfortable with from a security standpoint.

It can be argued that large organizations that offer cloud computing applications are much more focused on round-the-clock security than most small-to-medium businesses, but you are ultimately putting yourself at the mercy of others.

For most businesses, a combination of cloud applications that talk to local systems where the data resides in both places is likely to be the best long-term solution.

For the average consumer, e-mail, photo sharing, video sharing, online backup, online gaming, social networking, stock trading and tax preparation are just a few of the existing areas where computing ‘in the cloud’ is very common.

Cloud computing IS for everyone, but it ISN’T for everything (yet), so as long as you weigh the pros and cons I’ve outlined above before making each decision, you can make an informed choice before committing yourself to the cloud!

Ken Colburn
Data Doctors Computer Services
Data Doctors Data Recovery Labs
Data Doctors Franchise Systems, Inc.
Weekly video tech contributor to CNN.com
Host of the award-winning “Computer Corner” radio show

• Cloud Slam ‘09 Conference Proceedings DVD. Volume One.
• Cloud Security and Privacy: An Enterprise Perspective on Risks and Compliance (Theory in Practice)
• Cloud Computing, A Practical Approach
• Succeeding at SaaS: Computing in the Cloud