{"id":31347,"date":"2012-08-02T21:10:24","date_gmt":"2012-08-02T21:10:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/countingpips.com\/forex-news\/2012\/08\/the-investors-guide-to-cloud-computing\/"},"modified":"2012-08-02T21:10:24","modified_gmt":"2012-08-02T21:10:24","slug":"the-investors-guide-to-cloud-computing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/2012\/08\/02\/the-investors-guide-to-cloud-computing\/","title":{"rendered":"The Investor\u2019s Guide to Cloud Computing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Article by Investment U<\/a> <\/p>\n

When I started in IT in the mid 1980s, all computer applications ran on the mainframe \u2013 a large computer that was efficient and well-managed.<\/p>\n

I recall watching \u201cin horror\u201d in the late 1980s and early 1990s as individual departments began to embrace \u201cclient-server\u201d computing, where a \u201cserver,\u201d which was equivalent to a large PC, began to run critical applications.<\/p>\n

There were some benefits \u2013 better graphical user interfaces and greater control \u2013 but distributing the computing power to hundreds of locations was destined to be a maintenance nightmare.<\/p>\n

As individual devices became more powerful, the computing power got pushed further down to the end-user \u2013 PCs, laptops, and now smartphones and tablets.<\/p>\n

But put everyone on the same network and it seems destined that the pendulum would have swung back to the centralized environment.<\/p>\n

From the perspective of a former IT guy with plenty of gray hair, cloud computing is a natural progression\u2026<\/p>\n

What Cloud Computing Really Means<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Cloud computing is simply any technology service, such as an application, infrastructure, or platform that\u2019s offered to customers over the internet.<\/p>\n

With the proliferation of devices connected to the internet, why not keep key resources in a centralized location? This centralization allows everyone to use the \u201cpublic utility\u201d called the internet to access these resources. There are certain benefits to centralized resources \u2013 such as cost efficiencies and a better customer experience.<\/p>\n

But what does that mean to me?<\/p>\n

The typical internet-savvy consumer has been using services in the cloud for years. If you\u2019ve ever bought anything from Amazon.com, you used your browser and the internet to get on that site and order your goods. That was a transaction occurring in the cloud.<\/p>\n

So, it\u2019s easy to see how consumer-facing businesses have already adopted cloud computing for their own purposes.<\/p>\n

But what\u2019s now changing is a migration of business-to-business (B2B) transactions also occurring in the cloud. Also, greater trust in the cloud leads to more activity.<\/p>\n

The question is \u2013 if a company sells products over the cloud, are they a cloud company? The answer is, in this writer\u2019s opinion, no.<\/p>\n

When a mining company loaded coal onto a railroad car, were they a railroad company? No! When Pets.com \u2013 now part of PetSmart<\/strong> (Nasdaq: PETM) \u2013 began selling pet supplies over the internet, were they an internet company? No! They were a pet supply company.<\/p>\n

Finding the \u201cArms Suppliers\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Investors typically want to find the winner in \u201cthe war.\u201d Will Amazon<\/strong> (Nasdaq: AMZN) sell more books over the internet than Barnes & Noble<\/strong> (NYSE: BKS)? If yes, then Amazon is the winner, right?<\/p>\n

The smarter investor will look to the \u201carms suppliers\u201d in \u201cthe war.\u201d Don\u2019t pick a side in the war, pick companies that sell services to all of the war\u2019s participants.<\/p>\n

And this<\/span><\/em> is what makes cloud computing so interesting. There are many different levels of \u201carms suppliers\u201d in these wars.<\/p>\n

What are some of the weapons required?<\/p>\n