Greetings,
I am not going to re-introduce myself. You should know me (but just in case this is your first time reading my posts, you may want to peruse my previous ones at https://www.atruent.com/blog/).
Once again, I am about to shed some lights on The Tech World according to moi.
Lately, I have heard my human friends talk a lot about the Cloud and how confusing they find it.
I have personally never found clouds confusing, fluffy or wet perhaps, but confusing not. I however soon realized that they were not referring the condensation kind, but to some sort of technology. I had to do some digging (not in the backyard, you understand, but on what you call The Internet) and I’d like to give you the benefit of my research:
You see, like us canines, Humans usually do not like what they don’t understand.
Just to give you an example: I hate walks, I despise them with unmitigated passion. As a matter of fact, every time my Human tries to take me on a walk, I either pretend that I am sound asleep or otherwise engaged. When she eventually manages to convince me to go out (and I only agree because I take pity on her), I answer the call of nature at lightning speed and anchor my paws down to the ground to make her understand that it is absolutely POINTLESS TO MAKE ME MOVE ANY FURTHER. In most cases, she understands and takes me back inside fairly quickly (well as quickly as I can manage, I am an old lady after all). Would you like to know why?
The answer is simple: I DON’T UNDERSTAND THE PURPOSE OF WALKING, IT IS POINTLESS, I CAN RELIEVE MYSELF IN THE BACKYARD AND I DON’T HAVE TO DO ALL THAT EXTRA WORK. You might call it laziness, I call it efficiency.
So you see, my friends, it is the same with The Cloud. Some people don’t like The Cloud because they think it is pointless, and can conduct their business in their backyard too (note: my research tells me that this is called “On-Premise”).
WHAT IS THE CLOUD??
Now that we have ascertained that we are not talking about the fluffy, vapory, condensed kind, I have pondered as to the origins of the term, and my research unearthed this interesting article https://www.technologyreview.com/s/425970/who-coined-cloud-computing/. But yes, I can understand how Humans could get confused, after all, we get confused too!
But this is what I understand:
Cloud = A collection of technology and equipment in a facility that you do not own. My Human explained to me the other day that this can be Servers, Storage Devices, Firewalls, Switches and all these complicated things that she understands so well (God, I am so glad I am not human).
Going back to my Walk analogy, I think my Human would define “Walk The Dog” as follows:
Walk The Dog = Take the dog outside so she can answer the call of nature outdoors (you already know how I feel about that)
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF USING THE CLOUD?
If we understand that the Cloud is a collection of technology and equipment in a facility (you call this a Data Centre I believe) that you do not own., it is therefore, NO LONGER YOUR RESPONSIBILITY. You don’t have to manage it, you just use it. You don’t even have to pay for it all up front (I understand you call this Capital Expenditure), you just pay for what you use, which can be on a monthly basis. More interestingly, you can use a little or as much as you like (you call this elasticity), the sky is the limit! (no pun intended). You can use it for storage, you can use it to have a virtual office across multiple locations, and apparently many other interesting things. There are companies that help you do this and they are called Managed Services Providers, and luckily, my Human has one of those (www.Atruent.com), and her and her team can make it all easy for you. They set it up, they configure it to your liking, et voila! You just use it!
Another benefit is that apparently, you can also work from anywhere too, as long as you have Internet access, because my Human told me that it won’t work if you don’t have Internet access (I know, I hate it too when the WiFi is down!).
Going back to my Walk analogy:
Benefit of Walk: Provide the dog with daily exercise to improve health (at this point of my life, I can tell you that walks are not going to do anything for me! But you guys are still young 🙂 )
Benefit of Cloud: Provide business with efficient management of capital expenditure and provide technology usage elasticity to improve business and financial performance.
Now I am sure that you have a better understanding of what Cloud is.
However, and this is very typical for humans, you had to make it even more complicated by adding words like Public, Private, or Hybrid; Just as you thought you got the hang of it…
Since I am still my using my Walk analogy, let me make it simple:
Purpose of Walk: for the to go outdoors so call of nature can be answered.
In my world, the outdoors is my Bathroom J (well sometimes I have “accidents” inside the house but I don’t do that on purpose, I swear, my Human knows that).
With that being said, and since we are using the term bathroom, let’s see how this translates:
Public Bathroom: a number of people are using the same facility, they don’t necessarily know each other. But with germs and all of that stuff, you might not think it is safe, and you could catch something. You use it at your own risks, and you need to know what you’re doing.
Private Bathroom (Like in your house): only you and the people you allow in your home can use your bathroom, you usually know each other. You have a better control on how clean your bathroom is, and you have your own house rules :).
Hybrid Bathroom: (Think of a Hotel): You would have your own bathroom in your room, which only you are using for as long as you have the room, but when you avail yourself of the hotel facilities, such as the bar, restaurant, spa or lobby, you would use public bathrooms (again, at your own risk).
Now, if you replace the word “Bathroom” with the word “Cloud” in the example above, you will immediately understand the difference :).
If you still find all this confusing (but I hope I have offered at least some help), my Human and her team at www.atruent.com, will be delighted to help you!
That’s it for my tech talk for the day.
On the health front, you already know that I have a tumor growing in my belly which is making my Human very sad. But please don’t get all emotional on me (I already deal with enough of that at home!). It is OK! Once I am no longer of this earth, I will be still writing from up above (From The Cloud, you could say :)). I heard that you become your younger self up there, so you will get to see me as a pup! (I heard I was cute).
In the meantime, I am quite exhausted, time for a nap…
Until next time,
Your Humble Servant,
Lady Wrinkles
The Dignified Dog