“Cloud computing” – the next leap to the digital world communism “matrix” or a heavy step towards total control over the information? What can we expect in the near future, and what is happening right now on the other side of the monitor?

How It All Began

To go back to the beginning of a generation ago, when many of us have walked under the table, the trees were big, and the computers occupied entire rooms in the Institute. At the time of tube computers, computer was a set of huge cabinets that were calculating, recording and storing the information.

Access to these so-called “mainframe” was carried out with the device as input (keyboard \ card reader) and output (monitor and \ or printer) user space, which in common parlance was called “terminal”. Such terminals in one mainframe could be a few, all depending on the system performance. The user, when he had to calculate some data, received permission to use the computer, and entering the terminal through its program, waiting for processing and output the result.

Since then, dozens of years have passed, along with the development of electronic computers (there was a) decrease in size and is now one of the computing power of the mainframe fits into the normal cell phone. It would seem so much more? What can be improved in this situation?

It turned out there was more to aspire for. Indeed, with increasing computer power grew and the volume of tasks that they had to perform. Previously, a large computer center expected to fly to the moon, and today millions of navigation devices count your way through urban traffic jams.

And if you combine the power of these devices in a large computing center, and expect to get the path of a specific vehicle, and the movement of all vehicles in the city, and if the system receives a signal failure of traffic lights – ensure that the problem is updated to the repair team.  For such purposes, we again need to create computer centers that have huge capacities.

Cloud Computing

But these powers in full will be used only during peak hours, and for example at night time in the equipment which is considerably idle and without much work load. Here to help us, there is a new trend in the computer industry “cloud computing”. Cloud computing is a term defining the shape of a group of powerful server computers that are not constantly engaged in the processing of a particular problem, and provide the resources to different “virtual” services according to their needs.

For example, in the afternoon, 90% of resources will be given to the regulation of road traffic, and at night will receive priority to processing tasks such as the results of the exam, and etc.

Cloud computing can be applied in any field, as in the systems regulating the vital functions of metropolitan, and large enterprises for the processing of priority at a particular point of data.

What’s the difference between conventional computers and cloud computing services?

In the cost! The implementation of “mainframe” – “terminals” are substantial savings to the user’s computer as a terminal, to access the mainframe that does not need an expensive system that prevents the unit under the table, just connect to a monitor and keyboard, a miniature box, which will be on a local area network, transmit data input from the keyboard to the server and return back to the graphical information to the monitor.

Since in this embodiment, all data is stored on the server, it greatly simplifies the task of staff in the organization of data safety. Primarily and more – not only data is stored on the server, but also the software to work with them, so the user is no longer bound to a particular site, he only needs to remember the username and password to access the server of the enterprise.

As a result, he can happily go on a vacation, knowing that in the event of an emergency, from anywhere with an Internet connection you can get into your “workspace” and operate the necessary programs. A company gets more and saves money on licenses for the programs, because there is no need to install them on each user’s computer, just enough to purchase the necessary number of licenses based on the maximum possible simultaneous use of programs.

For home use

The undeniable advantages of this system has a home version of the application. Modern high-speed connection allows you to watch movies, “online” without downloading them to your computer. In the case of cloud all the movies that you bought, will be stored on the servers without taking up space on the shelves of your home, and can be accessed from anywhere. And also to play games, work with texts.

Many well-known companies have already taken up the idea of cloud computing and deploying them. For example Google.docs service allowing to collaborate on documents with people of different area, or eNlight Cloud from ESDS stores and host your files.

At the same time, some of the leading bookkeeping use such systems to store data in a safe place, often abroad, without losing the ability to work with them. The use of such offshore mainframe allows company executives to not to worry about their computers with all the accounting information.