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Cloud Computing: Article

Cloud Computing: The Mainframe Reincarnated

I see this whole cloud computing movement as nothing more than a reincarnation of the classic mainframe client-server model
By Andi Baritchi
Article Rating:
December 16, 2008 07:15 AM EST
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 39,274

Andi Baritchi's Blog

I see this whole cloud computing movement as nothing more than a reincarnation of the classic mainframe client-server model. People want painless access to their data and applications from wherever they are, from whatever electronic gizmo they happen to be using.

In a time long, long ago, before internet pron, spam, and Britney Spears, there was mainframe computing. A user would login to a dumb terminal, do their work remotely on the mainframe, and logout. Since the work was saved on the mainframe, she could resume her work later from any terminal accessing that mainframe. And for the most part, if setup right, mainframes were pretty damn secure too.


Then came the advent of the personal computer (PC). Now the computing power and storage was in your home. We gained the ability to work at home, but lost the mobility to work from anywhere - there's no server to sync with. Thus the notebook.

Since history does tend to repeat itself cyclically, I see this whole cloud computing movement as nothing more than a reincarnation of the classic mainframe client-server model. People want painless access to their data and applications from wherever they are, from whatever electronic gizmo they happen to be using. Sometimes we're on a computer. A laptop. A desktop. A smartphone. A smartTV. A smartfridge. A smartcar...?

For this computing paradigm to work, everything needs to be synchronized to a central server, with minimal intelligence being stored on the portable device. The only reason for the storage is caching for times of non-connectivity (insert TSA rant here).

The two smartest companies out there that I see capitalizing on this pendulum movement are Apple and Google. Apple's Mac Nano iPhone has already put 13 million Macs into people's pockets to date. It's a great dumb terminal / minicomputer that also doubles as a mediocre phone. I love mine. Google's recently introduced Android platform promises to do more of the same. Kudos to both Apple and Google for being ahead of the curve.

As a side note, this is a very exciting time for me being a security and privacy guy. This feverish movement back to client server to the cloud will see many security lapses. It's gonna be a fun ride.

 

Published December 16, 2008 – Reads 39,274
Copyright © 2008 Ulitzer, Inc. — All Rights Reserved.
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More Stories By Andi Baritchi

Andi Baritchi is senior Security Consultant at a Fortune 100 company. He blogs at AndiBaritchi.com.

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