This is very funny - Has anyone seen the trailer of an upcoming movie “Sex Tape”, stars Cameron Diaz and Jason Segel; the couple make a sex tape, which goes missing. This conversation then ensued
Cameron Diaz: “How do you forget to erase your sex tape?”
Jason Segel: “It kept slipping my mind and then the next thing I knew it went up - it went up to the cloud.”
Diaz: “And you can’t get it down from the cloud?”
Segel: “Nobody understands the cloud. It’s a mystery!”
And there we have it, "The Cloud" made it to the Hollywood but it ain't a mystery,lol. So, i have decided to do a simple write-up on "The Cloud"
What Is the Cloud Used For?
The cloud makes sharing documents, photos and pretty much any type of file easy, using any device running any operating system. All you need is an Internet or cellular connection. But the power behind the cloud is storage and Everything as a Service.
Special servers in a company's cloud do nothing but hold data. Lots of data. Think of your own computer, which probably holds upwards of 500 gigabytes (GB) of data. Compare that to Microsoft's cloud servers, which hold a combined total of more than 400 petabytes. That's like 100,000 hard drives and that's just one company's cloud resources.
Whereas some clouds are built mainly for storage and sharing, such as Box and Instagram, other clouds deliver services. The services are typically sold on a monthly or annual subscription basis; others are free. Three common services are Software as a Service (SaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS).
SaaS covers a lot of territory, such as online email, word processing, customer relationship management (CRM) software, software development management, content managementand much more. Google Gmail is one example.
With IaaS, you get a virtual server in the cloud, on which you can install and run applications just like you would on a physical server in your office. It has everything an ordinary server has: Network connections, storage and so on. The cloud provider owns the server, which runs within the provider's IT infrastructure, and is responsible for making sure it runs properly. This eases the administrative burden for companies and saves them money.
PaaS is the most complicated, and provides an entire platform on which a company can build and test applications, manage huge databases or run a very large website.
Why Is Storing Documents All Over the Cloud Bad for Business?
With services such as Microsoft OneDrive and Dropbox only a click away and offering up to 15 GB of free storage space, it seems reasonable to use them for holding work files, especially if the company's server is frequently down or not accessible. However, storing files in any location other than company-sanctioned servers makes those files difficult for IT to find and track. It poses a big security risk, too.
Remember, IT is responsible for the protection of all company files. If you save the only copy of certain files offsite, IT can't do its job. If the files are lost or stolen, and contain sensitive or confidential information, you could very well be held responsible and face disciplinary action (at the least). Unwanted disclosure could also cause a major catastrophe for your company, and you don't want to be the person with that weight on your shoulders.
It's also difficult for coworkers to access offsite files when and if they're needed in a pinch, which is likely to occur when you're on vacation or otherwise unavailable. It's just not a smart practice and it's bad for business.
The level of security offered from one cloud provider to another differs as well. Not every provider has the best track record as far as keeping out bad guys who find new and interesting ways to breach servers every day.
I have also written about Cloud Computing before which you can find HERE
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