Cloud Computing is the undisputed future of the IT industry, but because of its intangible nature, there are millions upon millions of people who still have absolutely no clue what it is.
To simplify the subject, let’s just say that Cloud Computing is the process of accessing data and various other programs and applications through the Internet.
While this may not sound earth shattering, when this technology is harnessed correctly, it allows you to rent your hardware rather than buy it; a paradigm shift in the way people traditionally compute.
Since the hardware doesn’t belong to you, it also makes support of that hardware obsolete –any issue with the infrastructure is handled on the back end by the Cloud provider. Much like utilities, Cloud Computing is consumption based– meaning: you only pay for the amount of resources you consume, which avoids a waste of money and the inefficiency of buying overly robust hardware that you may (more likely than not, you won’t) need.
Cloud Desktops are the most intriguing form of Cloud Computing. Unfortunately, they too are immaterial (being virtual and all) and therefore they are difficult for people to wrap their heads around.
Contributing to this confusion is the growing variety of pseudonyms (akin to Baskin Robbins flavors), that keep sprouting up, such as; Virtual Desktops, Virtualized Desktops, Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), Desktop Virtualization and Managed Desktops, to name a few. These aliases are so numerous that even 24’s Jack Bauer would need some serious help from his CTU counterpart Chloe O’Brian, to nail down such an elusive culprit.
The virtual nature of a Cloud Desktop may perplex those thinking about and interested in using them as a business tool, so I wish to simplify further. A Cloud Desktop is your computer located in the Cloud.
Source:http://technorati.com/technology/it/article/relocating-your-stuff-and-your-computer/
