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.

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.

The fact that  Babbage came up with the idea of the first programmable computer way back in 1837 totally blows my mind. How did he do that? I guess he was the very first geek. And these IT geeks continue to amaze us all. Some clever clogs came up with the idea that you can run virtual machines  inside a computer, so a piece of software pretends it is a real server. In this way, you can have one physical box running many operating systems and applications at the same time. This brings many advantages, including energy savings, faster server installation (you don't have to fill out a form and wait for a physical box to be delivered) and higher availability and uptime. So from a cost standpoint, virtualisation is a great move. You can do much more with much less, which is why, reportedly, more than 70% of companies run at least some of their workload on virtual machines.  This diagram gives an idea of the principal:

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?

How do you choose between public and private cloud? What are the differences between them? What are the advantages of private cloud? How do I choose between public and private cloud? Let's have a look at the basics to help make the decision.

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.