A Quick and Easy Intro to Cloud Computing Cloud computing. What
the heck does it mean, anyway? If you're confused by the phrase,
you're not alone, because it's as prevalent now as the air we
breathe. Without knowing it, you use cloud computing-based
services everyday! Still, many aren't aware of just what cloud
computing is and why it even matters. The basics of cloud
computing is nothing new -- It's similar to the days of
mainframe timesharing, where companies shared resources to
process data for their needs. The difference today is that many
cloud computing-based services and solutions run on thousands of
low-cost PCs which are glued together by sophisticated software
and networks. So, here's a crash-course on cloud computing in
three, two, one ... How It Works The basic cloud computing
foundation is comprised of a data center (servers, network
switches, Internet connectivity, etc.), virtualization software
(used to segment physical resources between users), operating
system (Windows, Linux, etc.) and appli