Everything Is Moving To The Cloud, Are You?

In 1982 the CD was introduced to the public as a new standard of digital storage and most of us believed that this was the highest storage capacity we would ever achieve.  Of course, at the time the CD was only capable of holding about 150 minutes of playback time. Today, CDs, DVDs and BluRay discs are all much more capable than that, but are still hardly up to par with the technology we now have to hand.

Cloud storage was originally invented in the early 60s, far preceding the CD or other writable disc storage, but was not fully implemented until sometime in the earlier part of this century. Technology had yet to catch up with the idea at the time, but now, cloud technology is readily available, affordable and one of the best options for storing data of any kind.

Entertainment in the Cloud

One of the most notable changes wrought by cloud storage is in entertainment. Pre-2000, most people would buy CDs and DVDs or have a cable connection for entertainment purposes. Today’s statistics show that perhaps as many as 30 per cent of young people have switched to cloud based services such as Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Movies or Music. These services allow users to play and browse whatever they want for an often low price per month, which makes it much more appealing than a cable service where you  have to watch ‘what is on’. The same changes have been applied to music and even books. The libraries, movie stores and music stores of the future will all be cloud based and many of them already are.

Data Storage

Another huge change shaped by cloud technology is the way we store data. Traditionally anyone who wanted to store anything had to save it on their computer, on an external drive, on a CD or DVD or on a flash drive. Now, both individuals and businesses can store their data in the cloud. Cloud storage is usually available for a monthly fee which is often free for very low use clients and for a subscription for heavy and business users. There are many advantages to storing data in a cloud including that it is accessible from anywhere and on any device whilst being safe from computer hacks and outages and it is easy to access. Services and programs for cloud storage tend to vary from business to business, but the best ones likely offer other services as well.

Security

Cloud storage offers the ability to securely store data, programs, information and more. Most cloud services use enhanced SQL encryption, or another form of encryption, to ensure that hackers cannot access your data. Most also use very secure storage devices and a range of servers stored in different places. This means that if something happens to one server, the data is still safe on another. Cloud security is usually safer than any other form of storage because it cannot be stolen like a thumb drive, cannot suffer due to a disaster or accident and is usually very well protected from hackers.

There are a range of uses for cloud, but a lot of people are using it. From individuals working at home to Fortune 500 businesses, everything and everyone seems to be moving to the cloud for everything from storage to communication and even entertainment. While there are pros and cons to cloud storage and the pros definitely outweigh the cons for enterprise and business level organisations.

If you haven’t moved over to the cloud, you should definitely look into doing so as although technology is rapidly changing, one trend is clear and the cloud is definitely the future.

Contributor: Jann Webb is a blogger who believes that cloud storage is the new way to store, communicate and entertain in this modern age. It should therefore be adopted and used in both the business sector and at home to improve your security and storage space.