In a Fog about "The Cloud?"
As the current darling of technology, "The Cloud" is generating considerable hype. Whether the discussion is about a "Private Cloud" or simply "The Cloud," many regard this technology as the future of data storage. In fact, some proponents push the technology when they really don't even understand it.
Case in point, my Italian godson, a gifted social media marketing consultant, frequently Tweets links to interesting articles and resources on social media networking and technology in general. He recently posted a link to a posting entitled "The History of Digital Storage" on a Blog named Visual Loop. The timeline offered by the Visual Loop author chronographed advances in data storage starting with the punch card through drum, reel tape, cassette tape, floppy, hard disk drive, optical disk, flash drive and solid state drive technology, ultimately ending with Cloud Storage. He then provided some interesting comparisons of the advances in overall storage capacities with a specific example comparing an iPod shuffle to an IBM 350 magnetic disk drive storage unit.
While the presentation is appealing and features a nice timeline showing the evolution of data storage, I have a couple of bones to pick with the data.
Despite the title, the blog entry does not accurately portray the evolution. Punch cards utilize mechanical (or in newer applications, optical) pattern recognition. Moreover, cassette tape drives stored data in analog format. Mostly significantly, Cloud Storage does not constitute a specific storage type, but a storage methodology that can utilize a variety of data storage mediums. In theory, Cloud Storage could utilize all of the listed mediums although in application, most would be impractical and insufficient for normal usage.
The Cloud has long been referenced in networking terminology as the means of connecting a group of physically separated computing devices and peripherals. In other words, a network. Local Area Networks (LANs) where user data is stored on a Server or networked storage device (NAS/SAN) constitute a small Cloud, while Wide Area Networks (WANs) form one or more interconnected Clouds. However, both are essentially Private Clouds since one must typically be connected to some part of the private network in order to gain access. In its current application, The Cloud represents the migration of the data from a device or network to the Internet with the intention of providing accessibility from almost anywhere.
The Cloud means you do not have to be on your personal computer, nor connected to your private LAN or WAN, in order to access your data. It breaks the chains of the physical network or Private Cloud. Cloud Storage consists of the collection of storage mediums, Servers and data storage, used to manage the information. While it is highly unlikely that anything other than digital storage medium will be used, The Cloud is not technically limited to such storage. Therefore, like the punch card and the cassette drive, Cloud Storage does not fit into "The History of Digital Storage."
Had the presentation been called "The History of Data Storage," I probably would not have had as much of a bone to pick with it. However, comparing the concept of "Cloud Storage" to physical data storage mediums only furthers the confusion that makes "The Cloud" seem foggy.
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Case in point, my Italian godson, a gifted social media marketing consultant, frequently Tweets links to interesting articles and resources on social media networking and technology in general. He recently posted a link to a posting entitled "The History of Digital Storage" on a Blog named Visual Loop. The timeline offered by the Visual Loop author chronographed advances in data storage starting with the punch card through drum, reel tape, cassette tape, floppy, hard disk drive, optical disk, flash drive and solid state drive technology, ultimately ending with Cloud Storage. He then provided some interesting comparisons of the advances in overall storage capacities with a specific example comparing an iPod shuffle to an IBM 350 magnetic disk drive storage unit.
While the presentation is appealing and features a nice timeline showing the evolution of data storage, I have a couple of bones to pick with the data.
Despite the title, the blog entry does not accurately portray the evolution. Punch cards utilize mechanical (or in newer applications, optical) pattern recognition. Moreover, cassette tape drives stored data in analog format. Mostly significantly, Cloud Storage does not constitute a specific storage type, but a storage methodology that can utilize a variety of data storage mediums. In theory, Cloud Storage could utilize all of the listed mediums although in application, most would be impractical and insufficient for normal usage.
The Cloud has long been referenced in networking terminology as the means of connecting a group of physically separated computing devices and peripherals. In other words, a network. Local Area Networks (LANs) where user data is stored on a Server or networked storage device (NAS/SAN) constitute a small Cloud, while Wide Area Networks (WANs) form one or more interconnected Clouds. However, both are essentially Private Clouds since one must typically be connected to some part of the private network in order to gain access. In its current application, The Cloud represents the migration of the data from a device or network to the Internet with the intention of providing accessibility from almost anywhere.
The Cloud means you do not have to be on your personal computer, nor connected to your private LAN or WAN, in order to access your data. It breaks the chains of the physical network or Private Cloud. Cloud Storage consists of the collection of storage mediums, Servers and data storage, used to manage the information. While it is highly unlikely that anything other than digital storage medium will be used, The Cloud is not technically limited to such storage. Therefore, like the punch card and the cassette drive, Cloud Storage does not fit into "The History of Digital Storage."
Had the presentation been called "The History of Data Storage," I probably would not have had as much of a bone to pick with it. However, comparing the concept of "Cloud Storage" to physical data storage mediums only furthers the confusion that makes "The Cloud" seem foggy.
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