What is cloud computing? Breakfast briefing for Impact 21. Dunfermline, Scotland. 31st May 2011

1. What exactly is cloud computing? And where do I find it?

2. Cloud computing is about moving stuff online

3. Who’s got their own power plant?

4. From here on… Computing resources will be increasingly online They will become ubiquitous – you will access them like you do electricity. Just switch on. Or off.

5. How we are today (in general) Local computers Servers to buy and manage Software to buy, manage and update locally Manage gateways for remote access (or not)

6. How we will be Someone else manages the servers – we pay for what we use Capacity can be upgraded/downgraded on the fly Software updates happen incrementally and without any input from us. We’re always up to date We can access all our data from anywhere – via desktop PC, laptop, mobile phone. And it’s always in sync. Change a document on your phone and it’s changed when you access it from your desktop

7. Resources Data Applications Cloud(online) Services Infrastructure

8. The history of computing on one slide 1981 1970s 1957

9. You’re probably already using cloud services

10. What are the benefits of cloud computing?

11. Financial Reduce costs – Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) Large scale infrastructure bring economies of scale Elastic computing – only buy what you need Software as a Service (SaaS) – pay for what you need

12. Accessibility Do anything, anywhere Your office Their office Your mobile phone An internet café In this country In any country If you can access the internet you can access your workspace

13. Flexibility You can scale quickly Need more server space? Get it in minutes Need less server space – scale back Need more software user spaces? Easy Need fewer? Downgrade your subscription Need a different type of software for one person? Try before you buy and get it in minutes. Less of – I’ll check that when I get back to the office More of – I can do that now

14. OK – what are the risks?

15. Security, Privacy, Reliability Unauthorised access to cloud data Loss of data Loss of access to the internet Hosting location (data protection issues) Security of hosting organisation It’s a question of balancing risk with reward

16. What should I do now?

17. Next steps Find out more about cloud computing Assess what it can do for your business Talk to the experts about how you make the big moves

18. And in the future? Increasing amounts of data collected which will influence the way we live Layering of data – augmented reality Ability to communicate with customers based on their location

19. Florizel Media Florizelmedia.com

20. This list is not exhaustive. By a long way…! Resources

21. Cloud resources you can use now Office Apps Google Apps Google Docs Microsoft Web Apps Zoho Graphics Aviary Photoshop Express Pixlr Meetings Adobe Connect Lotus Live WebEx CRM, Projects Clarizen Huddle Salesforce Basecamp More

22. More cloud resources… Backup and Storage Box.net Dropbox Carbonite Amazon S3 Website and blogging Blogger Google sites Moonfruit Wordpress eMailing Mailchimp Webservices Google checkout Google translate PayPal RBSWorldpay Event management Eventbrite Yet more

23. Reading matter A brief guide to cloud computing - Amazon What is cloud computing? – Guardian Report European Union Report on cloud computing Cloud Computing Journal Cloud computing terms you should know (Tech Republic) Is the cloud green? Silicon Republic