Cloudy with a Chance of Stackfield - Part 1

In the meantime we arrived high up in the clouds. Specifically our data. But what is the cload all about? What is it and how does it help us in everyday life?

The development of the cloud

Cloud computing in it’s purest form isn’t new, as it’s often communicated by some providers. It is just the way how cloud computing can be used in everyday life that lets products appear new and concepts recoltionary. But let’s take a look at the origins of the cloud.

Cloud computing as a technology exists almost as long as computer, data centers and networks. Cloud computing was in its original form the symbol of always-on computing networks, where the content was insignificant because it was all about the structural form in the background.

With the turn of the millennium and the rapid growth of the Internet, the first global players like Google, Amazon or Yahoo kept coming to their limits when it came to inventory and availability. There was a need for systems which added new ressources under high demands and shut down server under low demands. In addition to the continous growth of the platforms it was also necessary to cover sporadic power peaks like the christmas shopping season, in order to avoid that server broke down due to the high traffic.

Particularly Amazon as the pioneer of cloud computing has played a major role in the development and dissemination of cloud services.

Nowadays, the term cloud computing is associated with many terms and is displayed abstractly, but in the essence it’s still about availability of ressources, applications and data. Until a few years ago cloud applications were mostly business applications, but in there has been a strong trend towards consumer-solutions in the past years, which brought a lot of different tools and options for users. From the exchange of files, streaming music, sharing content, images and presentations to management of phone books and calendar – there are cloud solutions for everything and the number of providers is growing daily. But also the business area isn’t sleeping and offers many useful solutions that help companies and users in everyday life to communicate and work more efficient, faster and easier.