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My previous post on cloud technologies didn't cover the type of computing resources provided by the cloud or who the customers of cloud services are. Providing those specifics involves understanding some of the jargon associated with the cloud.

There have been wild predictions recently that the edge will overtake if not kill the cloud in terms of volume of data processed. While it is helpful to raise awareness of the potential of edge computing, which is undoubtedly huge, it is also an oversimplification. Instead of adding fuel to this dispute, I prefer to offer peace and bring those two fundamental building blocks together.

Waiting for Gaia's second data release Gaia is an ambitious mission of the European Space Agency which will make the largest and most precise 3-D map of our Galaxy by surveying about one billion stars. Which sounds like an awful lot of stars, but amounts to only 1 per cent of the Galaxy's stellar population. The Gaia spacecraft was launched on 19 December 2013 and the mission is planned to continue for 5 years, continually collecting data on the motion and characteristics of stars. The Gaia spacecraft is controlled from the European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany.

Managing the Fog Fog computing and edge computing are ways of bringing cloud computing capabilities to the edge of the network and closer to the rapidly growing number of connected devices and sensors that consume computing services and generate massive amounts of data. This raises difficulties in terms of the architecture and management of computing systems and it is exactly this issue which is being addressed by  the mF2C project.

It's hard to keep up with IT trends. Hyperconvergence is one of the latest buzz words in IT and cloud computing. It embodies an attempt to simplify IT systems and provide simpler hardware and software solutions from which to build integrated cloud services.  It's not surprising, since the IT world is swimming in complexity and most C-level executives are trying to understand why they don't reap the benefit of recent moves toward cloud computing and software-defined everything.

What is cloud technology? Because of the hype surrounding cloud technologies, the term “cloud” has been used to label and to sell a vast array of products that have little or nothing to do with the “cloud”. This serves only to confuse people about what features a cloud should have and how they could benefit from a cloud. To clarify things a bit, let’s see how cloud technologies have emerged from previous ideas.

 

Cyber security is, quite rightly, an issue which raises a lot of concerns. So is my data safe in the cloud and what can I do to ensure cloud security?

It seems cloud computing, for both businesses and individuals, is here to stay, but it's still not obvious to everyone what it acutally is. What are the main reasons to adopt cloud computing? People talk about IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, application deployment and provisioning, multi-cloud... but what does it all mean in basic terms and what are the advantages of cloud computing for businesses ?  Well, you know what: cloud – it’s just computer power, like that big, old brick you used to have under your desk. It's a means of storing and accessing computer power via the internet, instead of via your computer hard drive.