From the past couple of years, there has been a lot of talk in the tech and the non-tech community about cloud computing. But not many people are actually aware of what cloud computing or what cloud technology is for that matter. So what exactly is cloud computing?

From the past couple of years, there has been a lot of talk in the tech and the non-tech community about cloud computing. But not many people are actually aware of what cloud computing or what cloud technology is for that matter. So what exactly is cloud computing? Why the fuss about cloud computing? Is it really the future of technology? You will find answers to most of these questions below.

Definition of Cloud Computing

When you enter a simple calculation in your computer, the processor in your computer performs the calculation and the result is displayed on the screen. The processing power of your computer or whatever device you are using is used. However, there is a new technology available where the internet is used as a medium of communication to send data to another server that is remotely located. The data is then used by that remote server to perform the calculation and the result is sent back to your computer or device through the internet again. The result is then displayed on the screen at your side.

Effectively, your computer or the device you are using is just used to transmit and receive data. All the computing is done on the remote server, which is called as the cloud. This is what cloud computing is all about. All the calculations and storage is done on the remote server. You are using your computer or device just to access the cloud server through the internet.

How to Use the Cloud?

The beauty of cloud computing is that you need minimum infrastructure on the user side. All you need is a device that can connect to the internet and a reliable internet connection. The advent of mobile technology has improved internet connectivity by leaps and bounds. 3G and 4G LTE wireless networks allow you to connect to the cloud server through high speed connections. So, you just need a display to key in the input and view the output.

Many cloud based servers, for the purpose of convenience, use interfaces through web browsers. All devices with internet connectivity have web browsers. So, all you need to do is type in the URL for the cloud server and login with the credentials provided by the cloud service provider. You are good to go.

Security on Cloud

Many people have raised a security concern about cloud computing and storage. The concern is that since data will be on a remote server somewhere, you cannot know if the data is safe, misused or even sold for that matter. That is the reason why cloud service providers allocate storage and computing space to the clients and close it with firewalls. Only the clients can get through to that allocated space with the help of their authentication codes. Even the service providers limit the level of access that they have to only maintenance purposes. Read and write of data is not possible. So, security is very good in cloud computing.

With all these advantages and applications, cloud computing certainly seems to be the future of technology. But only time can tell if it is going to replace on-site storage and computing.

About the author

Grace is a content strategy expert associated with Godot Media. She has worked closely with online businesses, helping them in their marketing strategies through eBook writing, among other content writing services. Her other interests – besides online content strategy, internet marketing and search engine optimization – are technology, sports and fashion.