• Welcome to Tamil Brahmins forums.

    You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our Free Brahmin Community you will have access to post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our community today!

    If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact contact us.

What is cloud computing?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Is cloud computing the future?

cloud-computing-cap.jpg

Cloud Computing. The term has gone from little known to wide spread and now everyone is talking about it. But most people don’t know what it is, even if they know the term. We are slowly shifting towards a cloud future moving away from localized machines and actually using all that computing power of servers and supercomputers to good use. Although you may not know it, you might actually be using cloud computing. Do you store documents in cloud services like Google Drive and Drop box? Do you use web apps ( online apps in your browser ) ? Do you use Evernote or Google Keep? If the answer to any of those questions is yes, then you are using cloud computing without knowing it!
What is cloud computing?


Cloud computing , at it’s most basic level, is the usage of another computer’s computing power, storage, peripherals or resources by another computer over the Internet. Cloud Computing has caught on only recently after high speed internet became more affordable.
What are the impacts of cloud computing?

Cloud computing has a huge impact in what we perceive of as computing. When we think of computing, we think of localized computers utilizing their own power. Cloud Computing is going to change that. With the power of cloud computing, one can perform the most daunting tasks on the weakest computers with the only requirement being a reasonably strong internet connection. Small companies will be able to focus on their industries, as they can now perform all the tasks they want at a fraction of the cost of buying powerful servers.
What are the major players in this field?


Amazon EC2 is the single largest cloud service provider with notable companies like Google and Drop Box in it’s portfolio. Cloud computing is one of Amazon’s most profitable services.
What are the hurdles of cloud computing?

Currently , the only major hurdle that cloud computing has to pass is that of internet connectivity. Although high speed internet has become much more cheaper and affordable, it still comprises a small part of internet connected users. And without stable and fast connections, cloud computing is practically useless.
Advantages of cloud computing

It allows for the cheapest computers to take on the most demanding tasks. It saves cost by allowing companies to buy cloud power for a fraction of the cost compared to buying a real computer equivalent. It allows for universally accessible data which can be managed from anywhere through the internet.
Disadvantages of cloud computing: Cloud computing is still not ready and doesn’t have the necessary encryption ( Current encryption isn’t sufficient) to store confidential data Cloud data companies may seize our data or use it for their own purposes. Data isn’t available if internet connection is disrupted. Also it is difficult to access data if there are any technical malfunctions. Cloud companies may also share private data with the United States Government.
Current state of cloud computing

Cloud computing has become popular and with many major companies shifting their applications to the cloud ( Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Office ) , the future of cloud computing seems bright. If internet becomes even more widespread, and be established in every corner of the Earth, cloud computing may actually go mainstream.
Source: Tech Geek Forever
 
Last edited:
vgane ji
you have explained cloud computing in the simplest way possible. thanks. what are the chances of corruption of files stored in some remote server location.what are the file protection alternatives . personally I would prefer to keep my documents beneath my pillow in paper form .I can find out if it is there everyday whenever I want.LOL
 
vgane ji
you have explained cloud computing in the simplest way possible. thanks. what are the chances of corruption of files stored in some remote server location.what are the file protection alternatives . personally I would prefer to keep my documents beneath my pillow in paper form .I can find out if it is there everyday whenever I want.LOL

Dear Krish,
The chances of corruption are very low as cloud services take good care of your data. Anyway, your data is stored in multiple locations and so if the data gets corrupted, a backup is always there.

Cloud companies use advanced encryption technology which almost guarantee that your data is for your eyes only. So, yes, you can trust cloud companies with your data. But. beware, use only reputed ones as the lesser known ones may use weaker encryption and may also steal your cloud data.
 
dear vagane ji
thanks for educating me regarding cloud computing.
my son in law an NRI is actively engaged in cloud computing projects.you have given me the basics to engage him. I keep wondering what to talk with him. now you have given me a topic. lol
 
IT is constantly evolving..I was introduced to computers in mid 80's through Fortran Programming by Rajaraman...We did not have PC's then..There were punched cards...I have given the reference for this blog..I try to learn something or other every other day..That keeps me going!
 
all my data are google drive..my future tab will not need much storage, ofcourse RAM should be high?
 
I started my computer life in 1969.
The problem of cloud computing like Krishji and Vaagmiji said is data security. Remote data can be secured from virus attacks just as personal computers, but still they are not as secure as the paper records under your bed. The other problem is of data availability. The data under the bed is available 24/7 at that location, but is not available at a remote location.
The cloud data is available world wide at all time provide you have access to the "cloud". When you have power shutdown, or you are somewhere where you can access the internet you are shut out of your own data. That can lead to panic situation.
 
The most important aspects for ensuring the safety of cloud data are 1) Physical and Network security of the cloud storage company2) Extent of redundancy built including at multiple geographies 3) How long it takes to delete the data from multiple servers hosting the data
 
Madam,

You are at the forefront of cloud computing. Cloud computing is not just the future, it is in fact the present. Even this very site we are accessing using a browser is an example of cloud computing.

Regarding your comment, you are absolutely right. Most mobile devices should not need more than 16 GB of storage. Even for RAM 2GB should be enough. However note that to be able to access your data, books, music etc either from Apple, Google or Amazon's cloud you will need to have good internet connectivity.


all my data are google drive..my future tab will not need much storage, ofcourse RAM should be high?
 
vgane ji
you have explained cloud computing in the simplest way possible. thanks. what are the chances of corruption of files stored in some remote server location.what are the file protection alternatives . personally I would prefer to keep my documents beneath my pillow in paper form .I can find out if it is there everyday whenever I want.LOL

Krishji,

Perhaps you were jesting, but let me reply in any case. Just as you could store paper documents, you could also store your wealth by stuffing your mattress with paper currency. But that would be rather inconvenient, not to say uncomfortable. Hence we use banks, which are essentially cloud financial services. All your deposits essentially boils down to numbers at the bank and eventually down to bits and bytes in their computer servers.
 
biswaji
you are assuming the world specially india is white. the rich indians and westerners prefer swiss banks for unaccounted wealth, poor and middle class indians prefer pillows and pots in the kitchen and lofts for storing their ill gotten wealth. no banks with numbers for them.any way how much info a middle class man will store and why should it very confidential in first place. you are assuming they have lakhs of bytes to store. senior citizens need for storage is very small . mostly much of it is good enough for destruction. all you might have is a few bank details , some property documents and pension papers. balance is crap.a CD or two will be good enough if they are computer savvy.they do not need cloud computing.
 
I have no idea about where to store ill-gotten wealth. :)

And of course cloud computing does not matter to those without a computer or a smart phone. But I didnt know that we were talking about those specific groups.

They can indulge in cloud counting!
 
who are the members of this forum?. mostly senior citizens with spare time ,out of work or overloaded professionals looking for an outlet for timepass. some housewives wanting to escape the rigours of housework and a brilliant few like you taking everything seriously trying to modernise the world. since we have started this topic, what are the qualifications to become a good cloud computing professional.?have you wondered about it?
 
I have no idea about where to store ill-gotten wealth. :)

And of course cloud computing does not matter to those without a computer or a smart phone. But I didnt know that we were talking about those specific groups.

They can indulge in cloud counting!
only 3 percent in india are taxpayers. the so called black or parallel economy is what is driving this countryand far bigger than the white economy. only this money is used for driving industry ,business and realty markets besides investments in gold and other precious metals. perhaps most of our activities are governed by the rules of this market.
imho cloud computing is for medium ,large business houses with multi national presence who would have huge amounts of program and data files and require huge investments in super servers and memories. at individual level some may have used google drives or some such elements if they have used gmail and the like. some might have huge photo albums for which they may not have space home.
it is difficult to escape technology. from civic services,booking train,air,hotel ,cinema ticket bo or tracking bank accounts ,deposits etc you end with log in and passwords . we end up with giving more personal info due to these requirements which get sold to unscruplous elements in india ,further leading to telecallers calling you for something or other.
cloud counting is a dream for senior citizen .how to maintain privacy or anonymity is becoming a serious challenge
 
K sir,

i dont store my internet banking login details anywhere.
i dont store my debit card details online.

i cannot store my gold chain online.

some policy documents, house documents, all can be safely stored online i think. if someone say steals your house documents and converts your house in his/her name, then approach a lawyer online!
 
K sir,

i dont store my internet banking login details anywhere.
i dont store my debit card details online.

i cannot store my gold chain online.

some policy documents, house documents, all can be safely stored online i think. if someone say steals your house documents and converts your house in his/her name, then approach a lawyer online!
sandhyaji
these login s and passwords are a nuisance for online sites. I have more than a dozen and I frequently get into -forgot password mode to retieve them. some bank online accounts are very poorly designed to permit online operations. SBI and canara bank have good online facility. Standard chartered credit card operation is good .
storing house document,policy documents is a good idea. my son did that. last time some hot coffee fell on the keyboard of his personal laptop and mouse stooped working. the repair fellow wanted 10k to fix it since according to him the pc board supporting the mouse was short circuited. now he is unable to retrieve the document without a penalty of 10k. hazards of computer storage facility... so better have primitive desktops instead of laptops.
for gold ,if you are in a safe city.wearing chains is OK. in delhi, south indian ladies have a tough time protecting their thali due to chain snatching. the alternative is bank lockers for jewellery. again you have to periodically check the lockers if it is safe.
 
A stupid laggard from the last bench writes this about cloud computing:

1. Cloud computing is more about economy and hence money than about technology. Before the advent of cloud computing all business entities had dedicated servers to do the computing. These computers were either in one place where the business establishment existed or at a remote location where they were managed by specialists and connected to terminals across the globe by internet. Those with access rights and credentials accessed these computers through the terminals and added to the data, took down data or manipulated the data-all these operations being called computing.

2. This involved building large computers with heavy investment and for small and medium enterprises the technology became out of bounds because of the heavy investment. Almost all enterprise softwares and enterprise service practice was moving around these standalone server based softwares. Multi location-including multi country,-multi technology, multi currency accounting and management of resources became difficult as the scaling up went on.

3. Cloud computing came as a solution for all this. In this the computers in the cloud are shared by multiple business entities. This resource sharing leads to saving on investment. Huge data centres which are power guzzlers (because the heat generated has to be dissipated quickly by cooling and this involves heavy air conditioning 24x7) became economic with this technology. In cloud every business enterprise-small and big- share the computing ability of a computer remotely. The computer is used optimally by sharing. Idle capacity is reduced substantially.

4. Just an example. I have a multinational Company. As a part of it I have a manufacturing facility in Australia's east coast. On a week-end of extended holiday celebrations there, there happens a break-in into a godown which holds strategic costly spares/goods. The moment the break in has occurred I get an alert in my smart phone while asleep at my home in Chennai. Not only me, at least 5 other key people get this alert. We all go into a conference immediately and steps are taken to handle the emergency. That is what a computer has done to business today. For this service what I pay by way of cloud rental is just a pittance. Earlier too I had this benefit but it was costly because I had to invest heavily in computer and software. But now it is just nothing.

5. The negatives: Security is a major issue still. Despite several layers available for putting in place, the data integrity can be breached by competitors when the stakes are pretty high. When I had dedicated servers and software loaded in them I had to bother only about the integrity of known players and the imponderables were minimum. I could manage them well. But now my data is prone to access at the unknown remote servers despite all the layers of security and I do not know whom I have to contend with. The adversary is faceless. It is a problem.


yawning........bye.
 
more than cloud computing ,it is enterprise mobile management that is engaging the attention of indian enterprises.most IT professionals have taken to smart phones and tablets. so enterprises would like to use the time spent by IT professional in transportation to work for the enterprise.I heard about Infosys negotiating with telecom companies to get broad band on their company buses
I understand there are issues relating to security related to mobile devices,networks,telecom finance management[how employees can charge company for mobile usage for work].and application management on smart devices on remote smart phones.
the issues relating to this topic will be more relevant to people of this forum than cloud computing.let some bright youngsters educate us oldies like vganeji did with diagrams and write ups. this issue affects IT pro.s work and lifestyle more than any other
 
Solutions are available to store the data in your own computer located in your premises, but still part of the cloud. Comfort level is a bit increased as far as security is concerned. Any disgruntled employee can still blow security.

Satyam Raju was running a big parallel company with ten thousand employees with the company's SAP. Non existent projects were handled and salaries paid to non existent staff through the highly secure sap and nobody was wiser.

A clever human can penetrate any secure system.

Security is a major worry.
 
Good to see so may techies in the forum! Have received a good response to this post!
vgane ji
you do not know" yendha puthula yendha pambu irukkum enru."
The oldies here will you a run for your money
New queries
1Whose cloud is best-amazon,microsoft,IBM or anyone else. are there comparisons available
2are there public and private clouds for companies
3are there regulatory standards for cloud companies
4where does one go if the cloud guy closes his business [in IT field company change focus fast] or vanishes with all that you have put in

In various companies it is the IT fellows who promote cloud computing not finance or procurement fellows. they are mostly not in favour of it for financial related transactions or large global procurements
what can be kept on a remote server safely is a big issue though ,ready availability and speed of response is a plus point.
one can keep info. like dealer or supplier info or large application software difficult to manage locally but it has to be of a nature not of much use to competition. things like employee expense reports or account reconcialisation for employees or medical reimburements may be worth it if it leads to fast settlements for employee welfare.how much hardware it will displace is a big question?
 
vgane ji
you do not know" yendha puthula yendha pambu irukkum enru."
The oldies here will you a run for your money
New queries
1Whose cloud is best-amazon,microsoft,IBM or anyone else. are there comparisons available
2are there public and private clouds for companies
3are there regulatory standards for cloud companies
4where does one go if the cloud guy closes his business [in IT field company change focus fast] or vanishes with all that you have put in

In various companies it is the IT fellows who promote cloud computing not finance or procurement fellows. they are mostly not in favour of it for financial related transactions or large global procurements
what can be kept on a remote server safely is a big issue though ,ready availability and speed of response is a plus point.
one can keep info. like dealer or supplier info or large application software difficult to manage locally but it has to be of a nature not of much use to competition. things like employee expense reports or account reconcialisation for employees or medical reimburements may be worth it if it leads to fast settlements for employee welfare.how much hardware it will displace is a big question?

Amazon's cloud is called EC2 and is the biggest cloud company..Its services are used by big names such as Google drive and Dropbox

Anyone can make their own private cloud for free using services such as Own Cloud!

Google drive & Dropbox are public cloud services which can be used by any one

Private cloud services can only be used by you and the people you want to share the cloud with

Yes..All cloud services have to adhere to certain regulatory standards to qualify as a public cloud..You can refer to following:

CloudStandards

In case cloud companies close their business, they usually send a warning to customers to take backups of their data..However not all companies may do so..Therefore it is always advised to use only reputed cloud companies
 
Krish ji,

As you said, the oldies are giving the techies a run for the money. This is the TB forum after all :)

There are really two classes of cloud:
1. Consumer cloud: These are people like Microsoft Skydrive, Google Drive, Dropbox etc. You dont need to be a techie to use these. Sandhya ji is happily using them from her tablet.

2. Then there is the enterprise cloud. Amazon EC2, Google AppEngine, SalesForce fall in this category. Most people dont need to bother about these, as these are really programming infrastructure.

I dont know about Sandhya ji's gold chain, but raw gold can definitely be stored in the cloud. There are a few gold ETFs, in the US the symbols are GLD and IAU.
 
Less than a decade ago, a terabyte of personal online storage would have been nearly unthinkable. Now Google is making a terabyte of cloud storage available for just $10.


Check out Google Drive's new pricing structure announced last week, which now offers the first 15 GB per month for free. For $100 a month, Google offers as much space you could ever need: 10 terabytes or more.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest ads

Back
Top