What is “THE CLOUD”?

We’ve all heard the terms “The Cloud” or “it’s saved to the Cloud”. But many people still ask and would like to know what exactly “The Cloud?” is

It is understandable that the term itself can be confusing given all the references to “the cloud” we see in ads and posts with no real explanation about what that term actually means.

Basically, “The Cloud” isn’t a one application or specific location where things are stored, It actually has of millions of servers (and the software that’s running on them) that are located all around the world, but connected to one another via the Internet.

Because of technology called virtualization, we can access the files and run the software that’s located on those remote servers and make it seem like it’s our own computer or mobile device that’s doing whatever the remote server does.

If we were to take Google as an example, even though it appeared that everything took place on your own device, the actual computing that was done to complete your web search was performed by one of Google’s servers using data that was stored on Google’s own storage devices.

After Google’s server compiled the list of links that matched the query it sent that info back to your device, which then displayed it in your browser.

Virtualization allows us to use a remote computer’s hardware and software to quickly perform tasks that wouldn’t be possible for our own devices to perform on their own, while making it appear that everything takes place right on our own machine.

A popular use of the cloud is remote file/data storage.

We’re sure you’ve heard of Google Drive, Dropbox, iCloud and OneDrive

those are all cloud storage services that allow us to store files and information on their remote server and access that remotely stored info via the Internet, with any device we wish to use

For example, if you had a Dropbox account you could save a photo you took with your laptop’s webcam to your Dropbox storage space (which says on an actual storage device somewhere out in the cloud) and then access that photo with any device you want to use to access it.

And with Facebook, once again you’re using a local device to access a remote server that belong to Facebook to run Facebook’s software to post status updates and “Like” posts.

All of that Facebook activity takes place on Facebook’s servers, but to you it appears that it’s all taking place right on your phone (Another example of virtualization)

Why do we refer to all those remote servers (and remote computing) as the cloud?

Because we will likely never know where the server we’re accessing at any given time is actually physically located. It could be located at a building close by, in a city on the other side of the country or even on a different continent.

But luckily, it doesn’t matter where the server is located. The computer or other device we’re using knows the server’s “Internet location” by its IP address, and that’s all that really matters in the bigger picture.