Cloud Computing

I know that the last 2 or 3 articles have been in regard to the area of Cloud Computing and in doing a “Google” search I found an article by James Staten at Forrester that was published in March of this year entitled “Is Cloud Computing Ready For The Enterprise?”. From an excerpt of the document I found a line that expresses my thought on this subject rather well; "It's wildly popular with startups, exactly fits the way small businesses like to buy things, and has the potential to completely upend IT as we know it."

Between Adobe, Microsoft, and Google we are seeing a great deal of emphasis on this and it is catching on. In the recent issue of PC Magazine, July 2008, there is an article on “Living in the Cloud” that tends to portray it as still out there but not an immediate solution. This article spends it's time mentioning only Google's app's and says nothing about Microsoft's Live Workspace, Microsoft's Mesh or Acrobat.com.

I can see small businesses grabbing on to this in a heartbeat as a solution to bring in services that heretofore were only the domain of the larger corporation; Exchange Servers, SharePoint, Web technology and business programs (SaaS - Software as a Service) written with specific jobs to do. Salesforce.com has done a good job with their CRM software and you pay for that service which you use. There are plenty others like this.

On another note, I just used Mesh to connect back to my desktop computer from my "Cafe Office" in Borders Bookstore. Since I am using my Verizon USB Modem to connect and the signal has only 2 bars I think that was somewhat significant and I can connect via Mesh from any computer. Hmmm, I think I better upgrade my security.

One last note for this Sunday. On Paul Thurrott's "SuperSite for Windows" blog  for June 14th he shows 1st Qtr. 2008 sales for Notebook computer's vs. 1st Qtr. 2007 and most all Mfg.'s are up on an average of 35%. Is it possible that we have more people connecting on the road? Perhaps there should be some training offered for the Road Warrior as well as training/seminars on the new tools and "What's New On The Horizon".

What is this and how can I make the most out of it while allowing me to focus on my business? Great question.