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Consumer Cloud ‐ Cloud service for private users
Since the Internet has conquered many of our lives, we, as private Internet
users are used to having access to diverse services on the Internet free of
charge. From search engines to online lexicons, from programs for editing
photos or creating a family tree to staying in touch with friends far and near
via social network platforms such as Facebook. These internet services for
private users come from the Cloud. In general, they are all financed by
advertising, not subject to contractual obligations concerning availability
and often offer very limited data security. If such a service is temporarily or
permanently unavailable, the private data stored there will be lost, and the
user suffers. Nevertheless, the number of such consumer services is growing
rapidly on a worldwide basis, and with them their private use.
Business Cloud ‐ Cloud services for mid‐sized business customers
Anyone in business who takes a serious look at the Cloud will very quickly
notice that Cloud computing is not a new innovation, but in some ways a
new business model. With the Cloud, IT resources are no longer purchased
by customers who are then left to themselves, but access to IT resources are
provided as a service. Cloud customers are freed from the administration
and care of their physical information technology, they use the Cloud in the
same way as they would use electricity and water at home, according to
their needs and pay according to usage.
This brings with it a whole range of benefits for business Cloud customers
that can be achieved short‐term, paving the way to a higher business agility
and growth capacity while optimising costs at the same time.
In a 2011 survey, three out of four companies
2
who do not currently use
Cloud services gave the following main reasons why they plan to use Cloud
services in the future:
We expect cost reductions
We need not invest in infrastructure
We need access from anywhere and also with mobile devices
We only want to pay for the actual use
Half the companies also gave the following reasons:
2
Markus Vehlow, Cordula Golkowsky, Price Waterhouse Coopers, Cloud Computing in the Middle
Market, May 2011
