I’m currently reading Behind the Cloud by Marc Benioff. By the time I got to page four of the book, it introduced a metaphor that really made me think. It describes cloud computing as similar to a utility such as electric. Businesses originally used generators to power their trade. This was costly because you might generate more electricity than you needed and generators are expensive to install. Also, there is a cost to fuel those things. It was only natural for people to move to the electric grid and pay for what they used. This is the model that Cloud Computing and SaaS has followed until now.
You see this, book was published in 2009 – based on the copyright. Even then the sustainable energy movement was revolutionizing the way people used electricity. Businesses have switched to sustainable green energy. They use wind and solar power, and some of these businesses are even getting really creative and turning waste methane gas into energy, and there is a similar thing happening to Cloud Computing. We are realizing that it is not sustainable. It is threatened by government snooping. It is threatened by lack of visibility into the actions of your employees. And it is threatened because your data is not on your computer and not in your network.
SmartFile is pioneering the next revolution of Cloud Computing. The sustainable alternative. SmartFile moves an appliance with our software pre-installed into your network. Now, you can get the benefits of the Cloud with software updates and no project management to write your own software. You also get the benefits of being inside your firewall away from outside snooping.
Electricity went from generators, to the grid, and now to sustainable green energy. Cloud computing will follow the same path from cds you installed on your machines, to cloud software hosted on outside hardware, and finally settle at a sustainable solution where the hardware is delivered with the software ready to go and auto-updated. If you are interested in the next generation of cloud computing, check out our Enterprise Solution or contact us directly.