The concept is not new, but the term “cloud” is really just a new “label” slapped onto the age old idea of remote storage. As memory gets smaller, cheaper and greater in capacity, larger servers mean more storage space available on the net. No longer talked about in terms of gigabytes (billions) or terabytes (trillions), we are now hearing about storage capacity addressed in petabytes (2 to the power of 50), exabytes (2 to the power of 60), zettabytes (2 to the power of 70) and yottabytes (2 to the power of 80). That’s a lot of digits!

Space is cheap and growing cheaper.

In addition to the progress in memory capacity, the technology of data transfer has also grown by leaps and bounds and is also termed using the prefixes peta, exa, zetta and yotta, in addressing the speed of bits or bytes being transmitted.

Mobile devices that fit in the palm of your hand today are infinitely more powerful than the huge mainframes which filled entire rooms 4 decades ago.

Just think what it will be like in another 10 years!