The tech industry loves its buzzwords, and one of those buzzwords we often hear is ‘The Cloud’.
Most of the population uses The Cloud, but the amount of people that understand and know about the logistics and workings of it are few and far between.
So, let’s chat about it.
- Despite its name, your data is stored in physical hardware.
The name is misleading – so if you thought your data was actually in the sky, that’s understandable, but no, your data is not in the sky. Your data is stored in warehouses called ‘server farms’.
But then why is it called The Cloud?
Well, there is not one single reason, there are many opinions, but the most common one is that it was inspired by the Cloud symbol that is used in internet flow charts and diagrams used to symbolise the Internet. In more technological terms, it was originally used to represent a network of telephony schematics, later used to represent an abstraction of underlying infrastructure in computer network diagrams.
Kevin Marks from Google stated, “Cloud comes from the early days of Internet, where we drew the network as a Cloud … we didn’t care where the message went – the Cloud hid it from us.”
What makes it such a technological innovation then?
The entire purpose of the Cloud is to ensure that you are able to store your data in a place that does not take up space on your hard drive, that you do not have to manage your data, that your data is safe and secure, and that you can access your data anywhere, at any time, on any device.
- Cloud storage and cloud computing: what’s the difference?
Cloud storage is the stashing of data on remote servers, which can then be accessed from any device, anywhere in the world via the Internet. This is the cloud usage that individuals will be most familiar with. This Cloud storage allows people to send their files, backups etc. to a data server maintained by a Cloud provider – such as Microsoft Azure.
Cloud computing also involves connecting to a remote server via the Internet. But the infrastructure includes shared processing power, software and other resources. This means that users don’t have to worry about system and software updates and maintenance constantly. It allows them to use the processing power of a vast network.
Examples of this are social media networks, email services and online banking apps.
Microsoft Azure Cloud Computing
With Microsoft Azure, Cloud Computing serves to build, test, deploy and manage applications and services vis Microsoft-managed data centres.
Microsoft Azure Cloud Storage
Microsoft Azure Cloud Storage solution offers an exponentially scalable object store for data objects, a file system service, a messaging store and a NoSQL store.
Azure Cloud Storage is encrypted and complete control over who has access to your data – ensuring that your data is secure. The data is managed, maintained, updated and serviced. It is scalable to the data needs that the applications of today bring, and continue to bring. The data is accessible from anywhere in the world with HTTP or HTTPS, a variety of languages are offered for client libraries, it supports scripting in Azure PowerShell or Azure CLI, and the Azure Storage Explorer and portal provide simple visual solutions for working with your data with ease.
- Security
Reputable companies have worked hard to ensure that you are the only person that is able to access your stored data thanks to their tried and tested security systems. These cloud servers can actually be safer than your personal hard drive.
Microsoft Azure security
Microsoft offers multi-layered security across physical data centres, infrastructure and Azure operations. The cloud software of Azure is built with customised hardware and has security control integrated into the hardware and firmware components. This, along with Microsoft’s team of over 3,500 cybersecurity experts globally, with Azure, your data will be safeguarded.
With the use of machine learning, behavioural analytics and application-based intelligence, Microsoft scientists are able to analyse vast amounts of data relevant to cloud security. These insights they receive help to inform Azure services and allow you to detect potential threats quickly.
