What is Cloud Computing?

by Art Hendela
Copyright 2012 Hendela System Consultants, Inc.

Cloud computing is the use of computers, applications, and storage that are not your own, but located and run by a cloud computing service company. Depending on the contract with the service company, you will pay for the amount of computing you use without having to worry about many of the details. It is no longer your prime concern which kind of server you should buy, what operating system you should run, or how much disk space you will need next year. You will be able to concentrate on using technology to focus on your core business. Your weekend no longer centers around installing the latest software upgrade on all of your PCs. Those upgrades now become service provider’s responsibility at their location, wherever that location might be. You only need to create the connection to the internet and negotiate a contract that is right for you.

There are tradeoffs. If your internet connection is unreliable, then you will not have access to the cloud services. When that happens, you will have lost productivity instead. Some proprietary data might not be allowed to be stored on a server that is at an undisclosed location because of security or regulatory reasons. There are other tradeoffs, but don’t be afraid to try the cloud to see if it works for you and your business.

About the Author

Art Hendela is President and owner of Hendela System Consultants, Inc of Little Falls, NJ. Hendela System Consultants, Inc. helps its customers build profits from their websites through custom landing pages, surveys, search engine optimization processes and custom web applications built in ASP.NET and SQL Server. Art has been helping businesses large and small since 1988. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering, a Masters of Science in Computer Science, and is a part-time PhD candidate (ABD) in Information Systems at New Jersey Institute of Technology. He is married to the former Vega Bjorndal and has two sons, Martin and Karl. His outside activities include coaching youth soccer, basketball, and baseball. You may reach Art at 973-890-0324.