Cloud Computing is a very powerful concept. It is not just used for consumer apps but also for business apps. We call this Enterprise cloud computing. So let's break this further down to know what cloud computing is all about.
What is Cloud Computing?
Cloud Computing is an electronic based computing process that helps you avoid dealing with complex practices. You might have big ideas that streamline your business and drive sales through roof. But to get there you would write business apps, and these business apps have always been too expensive. Consider the scenario below:
Behind each app is the world of complexity involved. They require a Data Center with office space, power, cooling, bandwidth, network servers and storage. Along with this, a complicated Software stack like Crystal Reports, OBLIX 7.00, TIBCO 7.2.1, ORACLE 11.1, WEBLOGIC, JDK 6, Windows VistaSP2, etc, is needed and to add on, a team of experts to maintain them. Also, there is a necessity for Development, Testing, Staging, Production and Failure Environment. Phew! When there encounters a problem then, 'Oh Good Luck', you call the technical support. What if they don't know how to resolve? They then blame someone else. Upgrading to new versions would degrade the whole system. This is the situation for a single app but when you multiply these headaches across hundreds or thousands of apps, it's easy to see what the biggest company with best IT Departments aren't getting the apps they need. Small Business doesn't even have a chance to survive.
Now, here is where the Cloud computing concept comes into picture. With Gmail,
- Do you require servers and storage? No.
- Do you require a technical team to keep it up and running? No.
- Do you have to do any upgrades? No.
With Cloud computing, the setup running your apps runs on a shared data center. You just need to plug-in. This makes it faster to get started and cost less. When you use any app that runs in a cloud, you just need to login, customize it and start executing. That's the power of cloud computing!
If you need more than just e-mail for your small business, you may want to take a look at the BPOS suite from Microsoft. You’ll get e-mail, document collaboration, instant messaging and web conferencing – hosted in the cloud. You don’t need to worry about hardware, support and upgrade and downtime with a 99.9% upime SLA. Here’s a link that should help: http://www.microsoft.com/online/default.aspx
OdgovoriIzbrišiRegards,
Jodi E.
Microsoft SMB Outreach Team
v-jodie@microsoft.com