Cloud Computing

What is the cloud? “Cloud computing” is a phrase that owes its origin to a cloud shaped symbol chosen to represent the internet in flow charts, diagrams and other visual presentations. Any symbol could have been chosen for this purpose, the fact that a cloud was chosen has no correlation to what it represents. The underlying idea is that the “cloud” represents a computer or a network of computers that physically located elsewhere but completely accessible virtually.

Thus “Cloud computing” is the using of computational resources that are accessible via a network of some sort, usually across the internet. There is a very common and useful service that we all use that is “cloud computing”, email.

The way public (Non-corporate) email works, whether it be a web-based service like Gmail, Live (formerly Hotmail), or Yahoo! Mail or ISP based like Comcast , AT&T or Verizon, we are utilizing the resources of a computer (email server) that is physically located elsewhere. We may be using a web browser or email client to interact with our email, the sending, receiving, sorting, and storing of the messages happen effectively in the “Cloud.”