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What is Cloud Computing?

Cloud Computing is something different to every business and personal user.

Cloud computing has already been in front of all of our noses for many years. It’s so easy and uncomplicated that most of us have missed its implementation. It’s that intuitive.
Online consumer transactions are one of the biggest public uses of cloud computing. The cloud has proven so effective that banks are now even willing to consider granting loans online.

Here’s how it works:

You initiate a transaction with your laptop, smart phone, or debit card from anywhere with web access. The vendor’s server processes your order and forwards the credit card data to your bank’s server somewhere else on line. The vendor’s servers are probably not on the vendor’s premises, but most likely in a hosted center. The bank’s server, also located in a hosted center, processes and approves the transaction and then sends the approval back to the vendor and you. Now, with an order confirmation in the inbox, you wait for UPS to show up with your product except when it is delivered digitally.

In the case of a loan it is the same thing. The only exception is that a human, who can be located anywhere along the pipe, gets involved. He reviews the information, inputs the funding amount into the server, and a deposit is made to your account. The vendor and bank servers are typically located in co-location centers along the Internet pipe. The people who process the information can be located anywhere.

What is really cool about the Cloud is that the customer needs no software or server. The banks and the vendors might not even own the servers and software. That might all be hosted remotely somewhere in The Cloud.

Technical definitions of how the cloud works aren’t necessary to the average cloud user. Functionality and ease of use are. So long as I type this post in the WordPress Dashboard and you’re reading it once it’s published, we’re all happy.

What can be said, is that cloud computing is as easy as breathing and you’re already doing it. You’re reading this blog post after all, and maybe from a mobile device to boot.

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