The internet or online connectivity started out as a simple information exchange. Almost anything that users want to learn is possible because of the internet. They just go online, make a few searches and a minute or two, they will have the information they need. Personal communication became a lot easier as email was developed into one of the greatest innovations of the century.
Instead of sending a snail mail which could take weeks, a single email could be read in a matter of seconds. Even with a simple connection, exchange of information could be done – chat and updates on new data can also be done through the internet.
Although the same things could be done without internet, the experience that come from internet has become so much more. Through improvement of communications infrastructure, the internet was able to move away from the regular phone line and has a dedicated connection.
Dial-up connection is almost a thing of the past as more household adapt to dedicated lines with increasing internet connection. Wireless connectivity with almost the same speed is not possible. You do not need to drag a cable around, you just have a decent internet connection.
Because of the increasing capability of the internet, developers have looked beyond information sharing. Certain functions in desktop could now be done online. Office documents could be uploaded and extracted or even worked on at the same time online. Data processing is not limited anymore to your desktop as the increasing capacity of online connectivity has made it possible to emulate or even surpass local data processing.
Cloud Computing is Born
The rapid improvement of the capacity of online connectivity gave birth to cloud computing. Although the term was already used since the 90s, the actual adoption of cloud computing in relation to online computing started in the 21st century.
In gist, cloud computing is all about implementing process online instead in your local gadget. Data and processes could be done online without the need of any local software or client. As long as the user knows the process and have the right security credentials, he could access the system and make the necessary changes.
Cloud Computing Advantages
There are many advantages a company would have if they would consider cloud computing as part of their business plan. Among them is ease of operations. Every employee will be able to have access to the system wherever they are. A traveling salesman could easily update their database so that the company will be informed immediately about their performance.
Another advantage is the ease of troubleshooting. A specific software installed in the local gadget would need to have a repair from the company’s tech group. But when the company uses cloud computing, any “bugs”, user problems or error in function could be immediately looked into by its developers. There is no need for every user to wait for their turn to have their application fixed.
There is also the monetary consideration in cloud computing. There will be eventual savings the company would experience through cloud computing. Instead of tedious work with local connections and additional infrastructure, a company would just consider a cloud computing vendor which will ensure uptime of the processes.
Disadvantages of Cloud Computing
On the other hand, there are disadvantages the company would have when they opt to use cloud computing. The biggest of them all is security. Since cloud computing uses the power of online connectivity to handle processing requests, the data could be available for everyone and could be used for malicious purposes.
Another advantage is the ease of troubleshooting. A specific software installed in the local gadget would need to have a repair from the company’s tech group. But when the company uses cloud computing, any “bugs”, user problems or error in function could be immediately looked into by its developers. There is no need for every user to wait for their turn to have their application fixed.
There is also the monetary consideration in cloud computing. There will be eventual savings the company would experience through cloud computing. Instead of tedious work with local connections and additional infrastructure, a company would just consider a cloud computing vendor which will ensure uptime of the processes.
There is also the challenge of the end-user connectivity. Cloud computing will only be possible if there is a strong internet connection. Cloud computing might not work in areas where internet connection is weak. Although there are applications that might be work with simple dial-up connectivity, the application could easily go down especially when there is too many data to be processed.
Infrastructure is also a challenge for cloud computing. A company who opts to have their own server would have to ensure the infrastructure will be able to deal with consistent and massive data and processing requests. But even with these challenges, cloud computing is seen as one of the futures of the internet. It is changing the way businesses complete their transactions and it will certainly make some changes the way people look at the internet.
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