by Monique Hodgkinson

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February 2011 — Life on the San Mateo coast differs in so many ways from life anywhere else in the Bay Area. Our coastal communities are small and close-knit, because the coastal geography limits the amount of growth in our communities. As a result, Coastsiders are much more isolated than our non-rural neighbors. In the past, this would have affected the types of businesses and jobs available on the coast; however, technology has changed all of that. Cloud computing is one of the biggest game-changers, creating new opportunities for businesses on the Coastside and around the world.

Cloud computing seems to be a buzz phrase that is everywhere these days, but what exactly is cloud computing? Simply put, cloud computing is a new technological trend that allows products and services to be delivered in real-time, over the Internet.

Prior to the dot-com bubble, companies had machine rooms filled with servers that ran their applications. During the 1990s, the Internet became a viable medium for commercial applications. Data centers that housed many compute servers started to appear. Companies were able to lease space on these servers, rather than making a huge investment in their own computer hardware.

While there is much discussion around the definition of cloud computing, analysts seem to agree that it includes the following:

Spring at San Gregorio State Park south of Half Moon Bay, Calif. Photo courtesy of Sharon Worth, Worth Photography.

• Products and services are accessible online via a Web browser. Think of Google Docs as an example of cloud services — business applications that are available online, rather than being installed locally on your computer.

• The user interface is easy to navigate for end-users and administrators, minimizing the need for hiring specialists to install and configure the software.

• A programming interface is available for partners and developers to use, facilitating add-on services that enhance the application.

• Performance tuning and customization can be easily done through the administrative interface.

• Infrastructure is offsite in a data center and is highly scalable, while keeping overhead down. Pricing is based on usage.

How does cloud computing help us on the coast? Consumers are able to access more products and services from the comfort of their homes. Ideas can be shared more readily via blogs and new consumer social software applications. I recently was invited to view what a friend is reading via goodreads.com. This is an example of how cloud computing has advanced technological changes that allow us to share our lives with friends.

Coastal businesses can compete effectively with companies in more populated areas, because cloud computing allows them to expand their reach to potential customers around the world without heavy investments in information technology infrastructure and support. This is just the beginning for cloud computing; business services are rapidly become cloud applications, providing small- and medium-sized businesses with services that help them operate more effectively. Applications such as Yammer and Novell Vibe, which provide social media tools for business, can be very effective for allowing small- and medium-sized organizations to improve internal communications.

Security has been a point of criticism for cloud computing on the enterprise level. Technological advances are resulting in “private clouds” that allow companies to restrict who is able to access their data. This is increasing the cloud computing adoption rate. Over the next few years, I am sure that we will continue to see more advances in how we do business, because of advances in cloud computing.

Monique Hodgkinson is an independent marketing consultant and technologist who specializes in online strategy development and implementation. Her company Screen Caffeen offers a variety of services that help businesses of all sizes wake up their online presence.

Follow Hodgkinson through Twitter where she is @screencaffeen, visit her website at screencaffeen.com, or call her at 650-740-1491.