Cloud has a silver lining for future of business

Feb 4 2010 by Chris Knox, The Journal

CLOUD computing could be vital to the future of business and put an end to the traditional IT department.

And more than 100 figures from the North East technology learned to find out how to take advantage of the new trend in Middlesbrough.

The CloudSeminar, held at Middlesbrough Football Club, saw more than 100 delegates from some of the IT world’s key players come together to learn about the benefits of cloud computing, with North East firms Onyx, Sage and Arjuna showcasing their products.

The event, which also attracted representatives from IT giant Microsoft and was sponsored by Sunderland Software City, was held in response to the widespread belief that cloud computing – where software, data and services are hosted on the internet – will transform the business world.

Cloud computing involves the transfer of data and applications from a computer hard drive onto the internet. IT resources are delivered over the web from a ‘cloud’ of data centres and bought on a subscription basis to meet a business’s needs.

Many see it as the outcome of a recent move towards software as a service, with more and more users uploading personal data and photographs onto the internet.