***CLOSED*** Wednesday Morning Competition * Winner * wuyanxu *

[Aria]

Morning everyone,

One of these pretty drives today i think:

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Compo...roductId=41184

Now a lot of people have been talking about the 'Cloud' here.. Give me one advantage and one disadvantage of Cloud computing!

Best answer picked at 2pm!

[Black Knight]

It is reliant on an Internet connection. Data stored elsewhere, no need for local installs.

[coiler]

if its a cumulus nimbus cloud it usually rains.

Heavy.

[Koolpc]

Cloud Computing is a term used to by many PC tech people of what it is like when you go to someones house to fix their PC and you have 25 people in the room smoking all different types of ciggies!!

Disadvantages are nicotine etc smells in your hair clothes for months!!

[niceguyrichy]

advantage: well, because it's 'cloud' reliant, we in Scotland have a distinct advantage.

disadvantage: risk of vitamin D deficiency

[wuyanxu]

for home NAS type of cloud storage (eg, local cloud) but also available through home broadband:
Adv: separate machine for storage, always on, easily setup RAID + backup without fearing main system change may mess it up.
Disadv: expensive, and have to be tech savvy to setup

for internet cloud computing: (eg. Dropbox)
Adv: accessible everywhere, automated backup provided by the cloud (dropbox even provides simplified version of subvision )
Disadv: privacy and security

[skaface]

Cloud computing is a term originally coined by Amazon in 2006(?), when excess server capacity was sold as a service to businesses and customers. It has since become an increasingly standard option for business IT solutions.

Advantage: Lower starting costs as there is no need to buy servers, IT equipment etc up front. Instead, it can be bundled as an 'infrastructure-as-a-service' package and billed according to what you need/use rather than risk having redundant assets.

Disadvantage: Lack of geographic control. A government department may be able to access their servers remotely, but physically they may be located half way around the world. Current business culture lacks this sort of openness as businesses want to be able to have physical access to sites as and when required, spawning what I like to call 'fog computing'. It's like a cloud, except you can touch it.

[SENTY]

the benefit is security, reliability and accessibility.

Cloud servers are far more reliable accessible from any PC with internet and there is almost 0% chance of it behind lost or deleted..
They usually are much more powerful and can crunch numbers better than anything you have at home.
you can use cheaper terminal computers that only need to run a thin client and you cant lose data if you lose a laptop.
you dont have responsibility for the security of your data.


the downsides are many for a business but none for a consumer.. The biggest downside to cloud computing is IP laws and privacy of your data. when you upload a doc to google you then give access to that document to all the google engineers and any government department that wants access to it, usually this isnt really a problem but if your business is in finance for example storing data off your own premises is not permitted. IF you want to get a physical backup of your data this is held back by internet bandwidth.

Changing or moving vendor is very very difficult when you use cloud based computing
I dont think the cost of cloud computing is cheaper. its good for us all to use google docs but bad for a big company to try use the cloud instead of having equipment of its own.

[A Ginger Sheep]

adv: files can be accessed from any computer with an internet connection
disadv: files are not stored locally on a computer's hdd so if the computer does not have an internet connection the files can not be accessed.

[SENTY]

The benefit is security, reliability and accessibility.

Cloud servers are far more reliable accessible from any PC with internet and there is almost 0% chance of it behind lost or deleted..
They usually are much more powerful and can crunch numbers better than anything you have at home.
you can use cheaper terminal computers that only need to run a thin client and you cant lose data if you lose a laptop.
you dont have responsibility for the security of your data.
If your a team spread out geographically then a single cloud computing location can be advantageous for people from all over the world to colaborate on a single cloud project.

the downsides are many for a business but none for a consumer.. The biggest downside to cloud computing is IP laws and privacy of your data. when you upload a doc to google you then give access to that document to all the google engineers and any government department that wants access to it, usually this isnt really a problem but if your business is in finance for example storing data off your own premises is not permitted. IF you want to get a physical backup of your data this is held back by internet bandwidth.

Changing or moving vendor is very very difficult when you use cloud based computing
I dont think the cost of cloud computing is cheaper. its good for us all to use google docs but bad for a big company to try use the cloud instead of having equipment of its own.

[sibeer]

Advantage: A truely mobile desktop, no matter where you are you start with the same set of apps, files and settings you normally use.

Disadvantage: Performance is always limited by internet connection, server capabilities and number of connected users.

[El Wayneo]

Less data is stored on vulnerable devices, such as flash drives and laptops, less likely to be lost or stolen.

You do not have control over the servers or security of said servers.

[ZodiarK]

It covers a large area or building for a broad range of acessing the net, relies less on trunking and cabling, therefore less mess and money is used in implenting the cloud. Wireless internet can still drop a lot even these days would causes major problems.(stolen from snake as i got lazy)> Data stored elsewhere, no need for local installs.

[Andrew Moore]

Advantage.. (internet based) log in ANYWHERE in the world to check up on your business and how everything is going.

Advantage.. (internal using network assited storage) One data centre, no reliance on using a set computer to carry out a task. Can use VPN/RDP to access anywhere in the world quickly and easily.

Disadvantage.. (internet based) Net drops out leaving the business in limbo as it is 100% reliant on this to run. As such, not as strong as built in software, servers and a good IT team.

Disadvantage.. (internal using network assisted storage) Server fails, time required for back ups to be restored to other servers or temp servers. System as a result has a down time which could be avoided with an online service.


The internal system isnt really "the cloud" as such but the ideas pretty much th same..




Andy

[BigIan88]

Advantage: Users can access files from any computer with an internet connection.

Disadvantage: Users files are not stored locally on drive which means, if the computer does'nt have an internet connection the files can not be accessed.