Tomasz Kozlowski

Okay.. it’s been a while now and Cloud Computing is not that new. SaaS model is quite popular, but I’m still being asked what IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) is about. I came up with an analogy to water which seems to be easy to understand. So how is IT similar to water? Let’s take a look at 3 different “levels” of IT infrastructure:

1. Shared Hosting – you have access to a big water container. So do other people. Actually – you share it with tens or even hundreds of other people. Because of that there are some very strict limitations. Obviously there are limits of how much water you can use. Sometimes there are also some limits on HOW you use it. You have no way of changing water’s clearance level, mineral composition, etc. You just get what they give you. But it’s cheap.

2. Dedicated Server – you’ve built your own well. It took you a while to get everything agreed with your providers but it’s finally here. Now only you use its resources. Actually – I bet there are way more resources then you need or will need. You’ll probably be using 15-20% of what you have, but you’ve paid the full price anyway! Or you’re paying it every month if you’ve rented your well from 3rd party. All resources are yours and you can use it the way you like. Unfortunately you also need to maintain your well, monitor it, make sure it works fine, etc. You’re also responsible for the “hardware” of your well. You can of course outsource that, but it’ll cost you extra and you still won’t have access to water when something goes wrong. If you run out of resources you’ll need to make your well deeper or build another one. Both ways it will be expensive, it’ll take you a while and you won’t be able to roll back if your water requirement decrease.

3. Cloud Computing – you’ve replaced your well with.. water tap. You still have 100% control on what you do with the water and how you do it – but access to the water is way simpler now. All you need to do is open the tap and it’s there for you immediately. When you need more – just open it wider. You can also close the tap when you don’t need water any more. Your usage is being monitored and you only pay for what you’ve used. Maintenance? Of course there’s a HUGE infrastructure behind your tap – network of waterworks getting water from various sources, filters, etc, but you really DON’T need to worry about that. All you care about is the tap which delivers what you need and when you need.

I’ve been keeping most of my data in the cloud for a long while now. However few days ago I’ve finally managed to move ALL data to the cloud. So there it is now:

• I use MobileMe to store my contacts, phone numbers, addresses, calendar and photos and also to auto-sync them between my Mac and iPhone.
• I use gmail to handle all my email accounts.
• I use Google Docs for text documents and spreadsheets.
• I still use desktop Keynote for presentations but I use dropbox to auto-send them to the server, so they’re backed up and I can access them from everywhere.
• I also use SaaS applications for project management, CRM, etc.

Why?

Well.. there are few reasons:

1. Backup – keeping all your data in just one place is not smart. Especially if it’s laptop which can easily drop, get stolen, etc. Keeping your data in the cloud significantly decreases data-loss risk.
2. Availability – I usually have my laptop with me when travelling. Sometimes I don’t but I can still access all my critical files if necessary.
3. Ease of using – before the cloud-era I’ve been always running out of space. No matter how big the HD was – it was always too small. I don’t need to worry about it any more. In most cloud services extending your storage is as simple as dragging a slider.

You might think it’s not secure to keep all critical data somewhere else then your laptop or your office, but in fairness.. What’s more likely:

• Google Docs going down or my harddrive going down?
• Gmail going down or my on-site email server having issues? (note: gmail has been down only once during last few years)
• MobileMe going down or someone stealing my mobile phone (or me breaking it accidentally)?

So what is local storage for?

My guess is, in 2-3 years from now (or even sooner) local storage will be gone. For last few years harddrives were getting bigger and bigger every quarter. This trend is continuing but not everywhere. Look at iPad.. You’d expect a portable media device to store Terabytes of data for all your photos and movies, right? Instead of that you get pretty small local storage and two ways (wifi and 3G) to get your data from the internet.

The only “blocker” right now is connectivity, but it’s speed and range is improving very quickly. As soon as broadband connection will be widely available for a reasonable price – the local storage will be gone. Or at least won’t be THAT important any more.