A catchphrase of  this last year  is the so-called “cloud computing”. Literally this term means make “computing”,  using a software application not installed on your personal or business computer,  but on others  somewhere in the “cloud”  which is the collection of all computers connected to Internet in the world. Even without taking in account certain trends of the moment and certain exaggerations  more or less commercial, there is no doubt that cloud computing is something of important, that anyone who uses a computer today should know at least in the fundamental concepts.

What is cloud computing, and what is the difference between the other trendy technologies such as grid computing or virtualization?

The first expression (Grid Computing) means, more or less, connect all the computers of an organization into a single grid  to use in every moment ­ only  those that are less stressed, or more suited to the type of work  that you must do. Grid computing is also used to divide the work, which is particularly heavy, such as the design of an integrated circuit or weather forecasts, in so many parts that can run concurrently on all nodes of the grid. The important point is that while those nodes can be (and often are) hundreds of kilometers away from one another, they are in any case Private Computers, owned, configured and used only by the same organization that use they.

“Virtualization” is in a way, the inverse of “grid computing”. In the latter there is a connection of multiple computers so that they work more or less as a single, big Computer. Virtualization is a split of the computing power of a Cpu and Ram using various artifices, so that they appear to the users such as many independent computer,  virtual of course. Simplifying a lot, we can say that virtualization allows to save the hardware: instead of buying so many computers that maybe spend most of the time waiting for instructions, you buy only one PC and you do use it more or less simultaneously to different users.

Grid computing and virtualization have, despite being deeply different, a very important common characteristic, which is what justifies the search for other roads such as the cloud. In both these cases, those who sell, configure, update and maintain the efficiency of grid computers or those virtualized, is the same person or organization who actually use those computer.

Working in or with the” cloud”, means work regularly with computers (and in many cases software) owned, prepared and managed by others. These “others”  ­ should be  a partner of the company, or perfect strangers who offer (free or paid is another discussion) the use of their computer anyone ask him. The reason to be cloud computing is to have guaranteed access to files and programs via Internet, wherever you are, can afford to ignore ­ some problems such as installation,  updating and security of the software.

Professional cloud computing is particularly suitable for who needs software, every day or one time, but never with an intensity or criticality that justify your own management. There are different types and levels of cloud computing, each with its name more or less official. The simplest form to use, already known and useful to many people, is that these days is called “SaaS”, or “Software as a Service ". We talk about SaaS when, as in the case of Gmail, GoogleDocs, Flickr or equivalent services, people or companies use only individual programs or services, just ready to use on the Vendor’s Server. Today, all that you need to work in the cloud SaaS way,  is any browser compatible with JavaScript and Ajax, and of course a fast and reliable Internet connection.  SaaS is the easiest “cloud computing”.

When you want to work in the “cloud” with new programs, especially sophisticated (or when you want to support a service of that sort) we can call it PaaS, “Platform as a Service ".  Paas means offering Computing performance “on demand”  via Internet, to run any application or application groups for a given operating system,  without having to purchase and manage the software and any underlying hardware. According to one popular definition, PaaS is a service that lets you build the environment and the software you need, without having to buy or configure from the beginning its development environments.

If cloud computing is so competitive and efficient, why people, companies and public Administrations have not already passed to this way to use the computer?

The answer, in fact, it is very simple, even for those who are not a programmer. From the purely technical point of view, the biggest obstacle to cloud computing, but also the easiest to understand, is the bandwidth. To work always and only via Internet, rather than programs installed on their desktop or laptop, you should be sure to always have a fast connection, safety and cheap. At least in urban areas, today this is not a big problem for users of personal or professional computer working even from home. Any residential ADSL  is more or less compatible with this sort of solution. Things change a lot if working remotely is an entire organization, to which could  need a very fast connection which costs so high to put in discussion the convenience of the cloud.

The most serious problem, however, is in the basic reason for which we use computers. Even if you install and keep upgraded hardware and software (Open Source or not) may be a charge and a cost not indifferent, in reality those are just tools to produce, process and exchange what really matters, i.e. documents and data. Relying entirely on software and Storage managed by other means could no longer change cloud provider, unless you have paid much attention to some specifications from the beginning. The first one is that in the cloud, just because you do not use your computers, the fact that the software is Open Source or proprietary can count very little. Cloud computing can be offered both with Open Source or proprietary software . A provider that uses only proprietary software, but with interfaces that allows  local copies of all data, to make a migration to other provider,  would be much more opened than one that, using only Open Source software  builds an environment that works only on its servers, or on servers, configured in the same way!

In short, a service of serious cloud computing has to offer to all its users at least  free access to all their data and free download operation every time you need, even in different formats to be directly used in other server of the cloud .

Source: PC Professional-July 2011

The choice to enter the Professional PC article, nearly integral, was dictated by the clarity with which describes the recent internet services made available to network users. Indaco Project Srl has married by the time this philosophy and is able to offer Cloud services at all levels, paying particular attention to levels of security and redundancy of its applications and providing the customer with the ability to export the data within the Database. All programs and systems developed by Indaco Project Srl can be used as a service, from our server.

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