What is cloud computing? If you perform an Internet search, you will get a multitude of results, many from large companies like Microsoft, IBM and Amazon. Those companies offer tutorials and whitepapers that generally associate cloud computing with concepts like data storage, application hosting and server virtualization. With respect to applications and servers, the suggestion is that the cloud can be used for all of a user’s “compute” needs. These descriptions are entirely appropriate and, for large companies with specific needs, the cloud offers all of these capabilities and more. But what about small and medium sized businesses (SMBs)—companies with 10 to 500 employees? What does cloud computing offer those organizations? Over the next several months, I will create a series of posts in which I will explore this question and, hopefully, clarify the true power of cloud computing for SMBs. I will cover topics like data backup, fault tolerance, high-availability and disaster recovery—all of which become ubiquitously available when a cloud computing solution incorporating Desktop Virtualization is deployed.

Microsoft’s introduction to Cloud Computing can be found here: