The+Cloud

=** The Cloud **= Cloud computing (also known as “the Cloud”) is an emerging technology that uses the Internet to allow people to share things such as files, programs, and storage space, with almost anybody from around the world. Many corporations and organizations are using cloud computing in different ways to save money and increase the flexibility of their networks. As more and more companies shift their operations over to cloud computing, we as technical communicators must learn how we can effectively use cloud computing to accomplish our tasks.

=** What is cloud computing? **= Cloud computing is more of an idea or a model than an actual program or physical device. The idea is to create a pool of resources (such as files, applications, networks, servers, and services) that can be accessed at any time from any device that is connected to the Internet. This pool of resources can be stored on large-capacity servers that have a high-speed Internet connection, so it can be accessed quickly and efficiently. A simple example of a program that uses cloud computing is e-mail. When we sign into our e-mail accounts and access our received e-mails, we aren’t accessing files stored on our computer; we are accessing files that are stored on servers at some other location. Since the e-mail program and e-mails are stored on these servers that are connected to the World Wide Web, we can access them from any computer or mobile device. E-mail is just a simple example of the capability of cloud computing, just think of how useful it might be to be able to access a word processing program, a spreadsheet application, or 100 gigabytes of storage, from any laptop, iPad, or mobile device? The possibilities are endless, especially now that there are entire companies devoted to providing cloud computing services. These companies can have hundreds or thousands of servers dedicated to storing and running programs that their clients can access. Typically these companies can allow access to storage or applications for a monthly or a per-use fee.

** What is cloud computing for? **
While most of what is done in cloud computing can be done by other means, cloud computing has distinct advantages:
 * Users can expand or reduce resources – Resources can be placed on external servers and can be used whenever needed. If a user needs some extra storage space for a large project (but perhaps doesn’t need it afterwards), he wouldn’t have to purchase additional servers; he could just store it on an external server through cloud computing. When finished, he can tell his cloud service provider that he doesn’t need as much storage space, and that storage space is opened up for another client.
 * It can reduce expenses – By looking at the example above, it is easy to see how companies can save a lot of money using cloud storage, especially since hardware can be very expensive. Companies can save money by not having to purchase as much software as well. Certain cloud service providers can grant access to expensive programs for a fee. This can be cost-effective for smaller companies that might need to use these programs only a few times.
 * It is more resilient to hardware or software failures – Since most cloud service providers have hundreds or thousands of servers, they can actually migrate programs and data to others servers whenever there is a malfunction or outage. Migration can take place instantaneously, so users won’t even know that their program is being run on a different server.
 * It is excellent for collaboration – In the field of technical communication, collaboration is essential. It used to be that people would have to mail large documents for editing, but now they can be sent instantly across the Internet. Although e-mail can be a great tool for collaborating, it is not always useful when designing large graphic-heavy documents. A complicated Photoshop or Illustrator file (with all the layers separated for editing purposes) can be huge, too large to be sent over e-mail. With cloud storage, these files can be stored and accessed easily.

=** Who uses cloud computing? **= All kinds of organizations have begun to use cloud computing in order to reduce cos ts and improve network efficiency. Just looking at the Rackspace homepage (a company that provides cloud computing services), one can see different clients, such as Wendy’s, Radio Flyer, and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Different employees of these organizations will use cloud services dif ferently, but as technical communicators, we will definitely need to be familiar with using cloud computing. A 2010 survey indicated that nearly 70% of organizations use cloud computing models in their businesses, because it is more flexible and cost-efficient.



=** How is cloud computing relevant to technical communication? **= Collaboration is the greatest benefit of cloud computing to technical communicators. Creating, reviewing, and editing documents is much easier when using cloud computing, and most large companies will expect technical communicators to be able to collaborate through this medium Large companies will also expect technical communicators to be able to use various programs through cloud computing, since it can be considerably cheaper to do so. For example, say an engineering firm has some design software; rather than having to install it on every computer, they can load it onto some servers and have employees access the programs through the cloud. Since technical communicators will probably only need to occasionally use this software to verify data, it wouldn't make sense to install the program on their computers.

=** Related information/resources **=

[] - The Thinking Out Cloud blog

[] - The State of the Cloud

[] - A primer on cloud computing

[] - A simple breakdown of cloud computing

[] - How cloud computing works. = =