Steve Jobs, the Apple Inc. chairman and co-founder who pioneered the personal-computer and technology industry changed the way people think about technology, died Wednesday October 5, 2011, at the age of 56.  His innovation in the personal-computer space, lead to what would become the concept of the Cloud.  Steve didn’t invent the cloud, or the Internet, or even the first smart phone – but his concepts and innovations helped pioneer and push forward a merging of technology and ease of use that lead to the Cloud.  His forward thinking methods of universal access to information and the products he brought to market to accomplish this are what started and lead to mainstream access to the masses to what today is termed the Cloud.  I’m not referring to the iCloud – apple’s service platform to make sharing and storing data easy on an Apple device, but rather I’m talking about Steve Jobs’ impact on making the concept of the Cloud a reality.

Steve Jobs was talking cloud back in 1997, shortly after (or before depending where you were on the tech evolution chart) we all had our first email address and dialup modems – take a look at this video:

There was a time before iPhones and iPads, where the Cloud was still called ‘just the Internet’ – which basically meant to be ‘in the cloud’ you were using a blackberry phone to send email on the go and you maybe would sync up your calendars and appointments.  What Apple did that really pioneered the Cloud however was to make it accessible to everyone, with the iPhone and now the iPad.  Apple didn’t create the first smart phone, but the certainly revolutioned it to spawn dozens of clones and competitors such as Droid which lead to 100’s of millions if not billions of people being connected at all times.  Once the masses were connected – the applications that now drive the Cloud started to take form  on those platforms. The Cloud evolved from just sending email or checking your appointments to full blown access to all your information any where any time.  Now people are using their phones, tablets and even their TV’s to login into remote networks, office desktops, virtual desktops, and accessing information any where at any time.  Steve didn’t invent the Cloud, or even the first smart phone – but he dominated and innovated the space that let that innovation flourish to what we see today as hand held access to all your information at anytime, the Cloud.

Steve Jobs had many innovations, from making personal computers easier to use, to communicating easier, to un-tethered any-where any-time access to your data.  His mark on the origins of the Cloud can be seen so eliquently today as you sit on a park bench and watch passers by with iPads and iPhones in hand – some working, some having fun but demonstrating one of the many contribution’s Steve made. 

At the risk of  this post being another article on the passing of Steve Jobs, I will mention the impact Steve and Apple had on my life.  From the first computer I ever owned (an Apple IIe) and learned to program and use a computer modem with, to the device that doesn’t leave my side today with the iPad that keeps me connected to my TurnKey Desk virtual desktop at the office.  It was that first computer Steve created and Apple sold me with which I learned from that got me started down this career path. Steve Jobs will be missed by many, but the innovations and mark he left on the world will always be visible. 

– Adam Wills, CEO
-TurnKey Internet, Inc

Reduced Data Leakage

This is one of the first things cloud vendors will tell you, and they’ll be right. Many laptops are not safely protecting data with the appropriate encryption. Data is sent here and there and it’s lost here and there. Cloud encryption protects transmitted data every time. And then there’s the obvious data “leakage” issue (read: loss). How many hard drives need to fail before we all recognize the incredible peace of mind cloud storage can provide? Cloud hosting varies in its security offerings, so look for a host that offers secure firewalls and robust backups (read: Turnkey Internet).

Better Monitoring

Centralized storage makes it easier to monitor and control your data. Yes, this does  mean you’re putting all of your data eggs in one basket, but as an IT professional I would much rather know where my data is and focus my security efforts on that location than spread my data all over the place and hope for the best. Besides, “all in one place” doesn’t have the same meaning for cloud servers. Cloud networks are mirrored so data is safe, regardless of what might happen to a single machine.

Responding to Problems

If a cloud server is compromised, it’s a matter of seconds to restore all of the lost data from backups. This means you have no downtime, ever. You can restore data remotely, from anywhere, and with your robust cloud monitoring, you’ll know the second a problem arises. With all of your data in one location, you can easily assess the security problem and fix it.

Improved Logs

Logging is often overlooked, or it’s an afterthought and this means you may not have enough room allocated for your logs. With the cloud, you can index your logs for instant search results. This is true real-time view of your information. If your company is concerned with establishing a C2 audit trail, you can easily opt-in to allocate resources for extended logging.

Improved Security Software Performance

Security vendors are more accountable when their clients are more vigilant. The security concerns so many of us have surrounding the cloud have made many security software companies step up their game. They’re not only making their software more comprehensive and robust, they’re making it more efficient. Cloud clients are watching their billable CPU cycles. They know how much it’s costing them to run software. Visibility equals accountability.

At TurnKey Internet, we like simplicity: it’s in our name! We believe that businesses can succeed best when they don’t have huge technological barriers, whether those barriers are the technology itself, the time it takes to get it working or the money involved. That is why we offer simple, affordable, ready-to-use solutions that allow our clients to get business going, fast.

This philosophy has never been more realized than with our cloud hosting solutions. These solutions offer all of the benefits of in-house hardware without the risks or costs. Many of our long-time clients have switched over to our cloud packages and now they are wondering how to make the most of what they’ve got. In addition to the many benefits the TurnKey Cloud offers from a technological standpoint, the cloud has become synonymous with forward-thinking. A company with a cloud infrastructure is a technologically savvy enterprise. You’re leading the pack. Why not let your customers know it?

There are myriad ways to advertise your new cloud infrastructure to your customer base. Write an article for your company blog detailing the advantages the new infrastructure will offer to your clients. Mention the switch in your company newsletter. You may even consider taking a page from Google’s playbook and temporarily incorporating a cloud into your company logo. Use all of the tried and true venues for company promotion (the social networks) and get creative–include “now in the cloud” in your forum and email signatures or on your company voice mail.

Existing customers will be excited to hear that you are innovating and adapting to new technologies as they become available. Knowing the company they trust has a thumb on the zeitgeist will  position your company as a source of information and as a pinnacle of progress. It will also make your customers feel like they can trust you to stay efficient while you keep delivering the products and services they need.

The best part is that switching to the cloud is better for your business in every other way as well. You save money, reduce your carbon footprint, protect your data and comply with all federal regulations. Now you can get some new customers out of it to boot.

 A number of people have asked us in the last week how TurnKey Cloud compares to the soon to release Apple iCloud.  The short answer is they are 2 very different products, and 2 very different outlooks towards the future and uses of ‘The Cloud’.

 First let’s cover What Is The Cloud : The Cloud is IT on Demand. The cloud is a scalable, reliable and cost-effective way of accessing information technology at any time from anywhere. The technology of the cloud revolves around the benefits of moving expensive and complicated IT out of your office into an efficient, scalable, and secure datacenter.

 Apple’s iCloud focuses on just storing and sharing data (photos, videos, music, contacts, calendar, address book, and application data such as a document, spread sheet or configuration file) while constantly transmitting that data back and forth to the device of your choosing (such as an iPhone, Mac desktop, Mac laptop, or an iPad).  All the computer processing power and applications run on the specific device, and are limited by the memory, cpu and operating system software of that particular device.  If you want to work on a document, you need the word processor application installed on your iPhone, and your Desktop, and your iPad so it can run the application and read the data. Your data is constantly transmitted back and forth between your devices, synchronizing back to Apple’s central datacenter(s), so it enjoys the benefits of being stored off-site and available in case one of your devices was damaged or lost. 

 One of the downsides of the Apple iCloud design is that you are tied into their applications and platform – if you have employees on the road using blackberry, droid or other mobile devices they wont be integrated as closely into the data that is shared via iCloud.  Another downside in this model, is if you need to run an application that requires large amounts of memory, or cpu power – you are limited to the maximum capacity of the device you are using from Apple.  Need to crunch some numbers in your spread sheet, you can’t go faster than the processor of your device – there is no way to expand the cpu or speed.

With TurnKey Cloud you get the same storage and sharing benefits similar to Apple iCloud such as geographic redundancy, off site backups, best practices security and redundancy for your data.  The key difference of TurnKey Cloud  is that all the applications run inside the cloud, and you can access them via any device without being limited to a specific device brand.  For instance with TurnKey Desk Virtual Desktop   you can run a copy of Microsoft Office 2010, and access the entire computing platform from an iPad, iphone, blackberry, home or office PC, etc.  Where you can not normally run an application such as Microsoft Office on an apple device such as an iPhone, through the TurnKey Desk Virtual Desktop you can now universally access the same applications and data from any device, any where, at any time.

With TurnKey Cloud – our datacenter(s) are where your IT equipment, office servers, desktop applications, web applications, business software and data can all be accessed easily, at a much lower cost, and securely via the Internet.  You can access this information from any device, and when you need more speed, memory or space you can instantly scale to the size you need since the computing resources are entirely in the cloud, and not limited or tied to the cpu processing of the device you are using to access the application.

  The Cloud is all about universal access to your data, from anywhere – and while both Apple’s iCloud and TurnKey Cloud have the same goal – only TurnKey Cloud gives you the ultimate flexibility to run your applications, and access your data today across any platform, or device.

One of the most compelling and least talked about benefits of cloud computing is the potential it offers for a real positive impact on the environment. As computer usage continues to grow at an exponential rate, technology-related emissions grow right along with it. We hear all the time about how using less paper saves the environment, but the electricity it takes to access all that information digitally is rarely talked about or quantified. Office IT infrastructures are huge energy sinkholes. Businesses lose thousands of dollars each year paying to power their IT infrastructure when they could be saving a fortune by transitioning their business to the cloud.

Greenpeace predicts the global carbon emissions from computer use will double by 2020. That would be unsustainable and environmentally catastrophic. Greenpeace also states that datacenters that consolidate usage and power could conserve resources significantly. This may seem counterintuitive, since datacenters are huge energy consumers. But, when you consider the power saved by consolidating usage, it makes perfect sense.

In an office environment, servers typically stay online 24×7. This may be necessary for the business—if workers need access remotely or software needs to run constantly—but it is extremely wasteful. Those servers are running at full power even if they are only needed for a small amount of processing. In a datacenter, every piece of the computer’s processing power is used. Many offices can conduct their daily operations for the same amount of power one office was using in-house. It’s a basic consolidation equation but it’s one that business owners have yet to embrace.
Another aspect of the environmental friendliness of the datacenter is the power source. Most datacenters are equipped with extremely efficient energy infrastructures. For example, our new datacenter in Latham New York will be equipped with NYSERDA approved power. NYSERDA is the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. They conduct energy audits of commercial buildings and suggest best practices for equipping spaces with the most efficient technology possible. We can offer our clients a state-approved level of efficiency that we’re willing to bet their office parks probably don’t offer.

In addition to these green-friendly benefits of cloud computing, it is fairly easy to see how much cost savings there is here as well. Hosting and running applications from the cloud eliminates the cost of in-house hardware and IT staff while improving performance and reliability (more on that in the next article). Read more on Greenpeace’s take on cloud computing, renewable energy and the future here: http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/publications/reports/make-it-green-cloud-computing/.

Cloud computing is relatively new for most business users. As we have begun talking to our clients about the possibilities of the cloud for their businesses, we’ve found many of them are concerned about the safety of their data. Regardless of the actual safety of having a server in your office (and we know that it’s not very safe at all considering the possibility of theft, disaster or hardware failure) simply having the information physically close makes people feel safe. It’s a perceived security, but it’s a powerful perception.

The truth is, information in the cloud is far more secure than information in the office. While “the cloud” makes it sound like the information is floating around somewhere, subject to the whims of the Internet, in reality the information is stored in a physical server inside a secure datacenter. Servers in datacenters (if they are anything like ours) are protected by physical boundaries like thick walls and security cameras and biometrics. They are also protected by virtual boundaries like firewalls and passwords. Then, to top it off, they are protected by backups, so you can restore any lost data immediately. In the TurnKey Cloud, backups are encrypted, adding yet another level of security. You can even completely restore your entire operating system keeping all of your stored settings intact. You can control your entire account remotely, including remote reboots.

In the end, if you’re concerned about the security of your data, cloud hosting is the best possible option. While it may seem new and dangerous, it is designed with businesses in mind—providing the kind of security and accessibility that has never been available before. In addition to all that, it’s cheaper and more efficient than housing your own infrastructure in-house. At TurnKey, we see this as a no-brainer.