The concept of the cloud is nothing new, the origins historically have been more a method to sum up complexity of information and communication technology, and to help keep focus on a point without getting distracted by the details.
The irony now, is with so many charged cloud offerings competing against each other, the Layman is is getting zapped with too much information, when the abstract symbol of the internet cloud was initially rather meant to make the Layman feel on cloud nine about understanding the technology, and not overwhelmed by complex information dressed up to the nines with jargon.
So where to now?
Nowhere actually, it is all coming to you, and in more ways than one, not just the computer anymore but now also including your your mobile devices, such as smart phones and tablets.
How handy is handy?
As soft as a cloud can be, the promise has matured. The key word here is, synchronicity. You may have a computer, and now while having a smartphone in your pocket now (or phablet) or tablet on hand, there still remains all that work that was done on the computer! So how to get it to mobile, and then back …. and forth?
Whatever cloud offering zaps you into a commitment, or sparks your curiosity or wets your appetite, the downfall of information must synchronise. While most technology architecture is moving forward by decentralising to get all the eggs out of one basket, its best you keep your information synchronized across your multiple devices in different locations, if not the most important point in the cloud offering, don’t forget that.
Vendors in this space that will allow you to sync across multiple devices (and cloud services in some cases); CloudHQ, Dropbox, Box.net, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive (previously SkyDrive), Mozy, and Syncplicity to name but a few.
Most of these mentioned I have been using now for well over a year and they all have computer and mobile equivalents now. My personal choices? Google Drive and CloudHQ, Why? The answer my friends, is blowing in the wind, not too hard, and not too soft.
If you are looking at a more in depth cloud services, say, to move your email, file and application servers to the internet cloud in order to avoid high priced costs in maintenance, upgrades, support and issues of power failure, surging and lightening strikes and backups being obsolete, not off site, outdated and not working automatically, then be sure to contact us for an interview to understand your uniqueness and niche setup, and we will consult accordingly.
