Clay Shirky, an American writer, consultant and teacher on the social and economic effects of Internet technologies described Cloud Computing in a single sentence. He said –

“ Thomas J. Watson once mentioned that there would be no need of more than 5 computers in the world. We now know he was wrong. He overstated the number by 4”

Cloud Computing simply is accessing Data, Software Applications as well as the Computer Processing Power from a cloud of online resources – without having to invest in Software, Hardware & Data Management & by renting it from a third party provider.

Cloud Computing is also known as Utility Computing. Like any utility bill is being calculated, Cloud Computing works on a Pay-Per-Use model which is very cost effective for small businesses which need not bother about making huge investments in the IT infrastructure.

Cloud Computing has 3 components –

1.Software as a service (SaaS) – service delivered through a browser. For Example: a CRM

2. Platform as a service (PaaS) – Platform Management. For Example: Google Apps Engine

3. Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) – From OS access to load balancing. For Example: Flexiscale

Some of the cloud computing providers are –

Sharing the infrastructure & loosing control over it are 2 separate things. Unlike in a cyber café in the earlier days, where there was limited access to users with restrictions on installing a software or downloading some file, Cloud Computing gives enough flexibility for easy Data Storage & Data Management with Separate user rights allocation.

Since Cloud Computing directly results in Cost Saving & Hassel Free Data Management, many experts feel that this is the future of computing & will be widely accepted by the small businesses, to start with.

But some disagree due to the security issues involved. As the data is stored on a remote server hosted by a third party service provider & the user has no direct control on the server, many say Security related issues will make it difficult for companies to adapt to this model.

Provided Scaling-on Demand, Interoperatibility & Efficiency can be achieved with Virtualization in a more Secure & Transparent way, Cloud Computing surely is the Next Big Thing in the world of computers – for both Small Businesses as well as Large Businesses.