Unless you have literally been stuck in the clouds the past few years, there is little chance you have not heard of the term "cloud computing". Although very much still in its infancy, cloud computing has boomed into a very lucrative market in recent years. Offering a multiple of services and products in both the public and private sectors, the cloud computing market, according to Forrester Research, brought in around $41 billion in 2011. It is estimated that number will be over $240 billion in the next decade (Valentino-DeVries, 2011) If you have not already embraced the cloud computing wave, get ready because it looks like it may be the wave of the future.
The term cloud computing has come to mean, generally speaking, an “arrangement under which users store their data on remote servers under the control of other parties, and rely on software applications stored and perhaps executed elsewhere, rather than on their own computers”. (Svantesson, 2010) The benefits of adopting cloud computing for personal or commercial use are quite substantial. Among them, as P.G. Dorey and A. Leite point out in “Cloud computing-- A security problem or solution?”, are “cost reduction, improved provisioning and access to resources beyond that which would normally be possible in a private environment”. (2011) A user is able to access data and services stored in the cloud from any location with any computer with access to the Internet. Sounds like a dream, right?
On the surface, cloud computing may seem like a no brainer for anybody who ever yearned for more processor speed, data storage or hardware but did not want to pay or have the mountain of money required to purchase such technology. As users give cloud service providers more and more control over the things that were normally controlled at the personal level (i.e. data storage), users will have less options available to them to ensure their data is secure. Some might think, as Gary Anthes points out in his piece, “Security in the Cloud”, entrusting security needs to cloud service providers is a good idea because they are thought of as experts and highly skilled at dealing with security issues. (2011) However, such trust could be a mistake. Cloud computing has grown with such speed and breadth that its security and privacy controls have failed to keep up leaving consumers at more risk than they are aware of.
Your introduction really catches the reader’s attention. You did an excellent job using figurative language and tying in some key statistics relating to your topic. This style really gets the readers to think about what is coming next and continue reading. After your introduction, you make a smooth transition into explaining the term cloud computing.
ReplyDeleteYou may need to change the formatting of you in-text citations. I believe we are using APA formatting. This is a website I use for citing, it includes APA and MLA, http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/. On the left there are different tabs that allow you to navigate easily. I know with so many rules for citing, it can get a little confusing. The source should come before the period ending the idea. Here’s an example from your essay in paragraph one: It is estimated that number will be over $240 billion in the next decade (Valentino-DeVries, 2011). If the sentence ends in a quote the author cited goes between the last quotes and the period.