If you are a website owner or work somewhat close to the industry you have undoubtedly heard of the cloud and have probably heard people preaching about how it will revolutionize the way that we host. The fact of the matter is that “The Cloud” has actually been around for a long time in various forms and is now just being labeled and brought into manifestation in an easy to use and understand matter that is accessible to everyone with an Internet connection and a debit card.

Basically what the cloud does is it harnesses the power of multiple computer systems and turns them into one big super computer that can be used for hosting, solving complex equations for science, or running an application that requires more than just one server. In the hosting world this means that instead of being restrained to one server, your website is placed on “The Cloud” which is actually a network of computer that work together to form one ‘Super Computer’. In the last few years the technology has developed much further and we are now able to instantly deploy and resize hosting accounts in a virtual enviornment. This means that if we decide we need to add 20GB of space to our hosting accounts we can easily do so. 5 Years ago if we wants to do the same thing we would of needed to have an additional hard disk installed on our server, or upgrade to an entirely new Shared hosting account that could potentially be on a separate server within the hosting company and require a move.

So Besides Hosting, What Is The Cloud Good For?

The concept of the cloud makes it easier to solve complex equations for science. Since the computing power is spread among many computers instead of needing to be all in one system, or even all in one room, this gives us a lot of processing power to review and process complex equations in the sciences. Cloud computing technology has been used in many various ways. If every person were to install a piece of software on their computer we could theoretically create one of the largest clouds with a ridiculous amount of processing power that could be used to do almost anything we needed to do that requires a lot of processing power such as complex math equations and running various formulas that could be solved in minutes which would of otherwise taken months or even years to complete.

Is There More Than One Cloud?

What most people fail to realize is that the cloud is actually a metaphor for any group of systems that are tied together and made to operate in a way that is in unison with every other system on the cloud. All in one, and one in all. It is reminiscent of an old occult theory As Above, So Below. There are many clouds though, there are private clouds such as that of a Hosting service provider. They may run several or several hundred computers that all work together to offer a seamless hosting environment that can launch and scale miniature servers at a near instant rate. They do this by having a unified software that makes all the machines work together.

There are also public clouds, where users can install a software on their computer that plugs them into a network that lets all computers involved work together on a singular task. In another example a business may run a cloud computing technology to unify all their systems within the company. The cloud metaphor is usable in a wide array of situations. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is one of the largest cloud computing platforms and boast more power than even the most powerful supercomputer created to date!

How Can I Utilize The Cloud?

How you proceed to utilize the cloud really depends on what you’re looking to do. With a service such as AWS you can run any kind of application on nearly any kind of operating system and upon payment and filling out a simple form you can be up and running in moments, it truly is amazing. On the other hand if you’re just looking to host a website on the cloud and not need to setup a server and install all the components required to run a server that delivers web pages, then you can go ahead and find a hosting company that offers cloud hosting and have the ability to scale your hosting account as your website grows. So in most cases it really depends upon what you’re looking to accomplish. Whether you’re a mathematician, a scientist, a biologist, a website owner, or even just a family that wants to store their family photos on a platform that is able to accommodate whatever amount of data they manifest throughout their lifetime, there is an existing cloud service for you certainly.

We hope this article put into perspective why “The Cloud” metaphor and services that are derived from it really are the way of the future. A way for numerous computers to work together in an expandable environment for the betterment of humanity. Technology really is taking us places folks, and I’m glad that we’re here holding on and enjoying the ride.