Computing In The Clouds

Computing in the clouds. Wow! That sounds a lot like computing Nirvana. Are we there yet?

You may have heard of cloud computing. But unlike how it sounds, it is not about heavenly computing or computing without tears. It may not even be a BSOD-free experience.

What is it then, you ask? Well, there seem to be no universally accepted definition. I searched the Web high and low and found that different vendors have different ideas of what Cloud Computing is or should be. They define it in a way that would better position them in the Cloud Computing market.

But generally, it is all about computing where the manipulation of data is done by, or the storage located in, a network of computers. This network of computers could of course be the Internet but can also be any other network.

The idea is to send your data up to this network. This network will then utilize the resources of the machines connected to it and send the results back to you. You can say that this is an implementation of the vision: The network is the computer.

With this infrastructure, it is possible to use a puny little netbook yet still have access to the power of a supercomputer. Lovely, isn’t it? We only have one problem. Security.

Take a look at our current configuration now. Computation and storage is done locally in our machines. We only connect to the Internet to browse. Still, we hear news of intrusions, worms and viruses. How do you think would it look like if, instead of our computer connected to the Net, the Net is our computer? That would now be easier for system intruders because they are already part of the Net which happens to be our computer. It is like he or she is there beside you and with keyboard and screen access to your machine. Not a lovely thought.

Cloud Computing might be the future. But we have yet a lot to do to get there.