Cloud Computing Increase Expected in 2009

Even though the state of the economy is the main focus of much of our attention now-a-days, the New Year promises to be an exciting year with new and enhanced technologies.

One interesting technology trend is the movement we are seeing towards Cloud computing.  In 2008, 13 percent of software sales globally were for Cloud computing.  This is an estimated $36 billion in sales which is expected to increase exponentially in 2009.

Cloud computing is simply a general concept of reliance on the Internet for satisfying a person’s computing needs.  For example, Google Apps provides business applications through the internet that are accessed from a web browser.  The data is stored on the google servers and is not stored locally on the user’s desktop.  This is commonly referred to as “SaaS or Software as a Service”.  We are currently hearing a lot from Microsoft these days about them offering SaaS so even the biggest players in the industry are jumping on the band wagon.

The concept of cloud computing is a wonderful idea.  It allows large groups of computers to share the same IT infrastructure.  The users then access the resources virtually and not keep local copies, therefore, saving a lot on storage costs.

This past quarter, I attended a conference where IT professionals were discussing the benefits of switching to the Cloud computing environment.  They believed it would save them a tremendous amount of money and savings on energy. 

Enterprise

companies are stating that Cloud computing will support the future of data centers where as they would be able to provide fast access to a large network of users.

Since uses for cloud computing will increase exponentially over the next three to five years, we as eDiscovery professionals must be aware of this trend so we can advise our corporate counsel to have discussions with their IT departments so that if a decision is being made to move towards Cloud computing that the legal department’s needs are taken into consideration.   

Comments

[Robert Childress]

Great Article. One of the oldest cloud computing solutions on the market today is Salesforce.com. I think we have only seen the beginning on what cloud computing can offer.

[Robin Elizabeth Margolis]

Dear Shawnna Childress:

Thank you for a really interesting article!

Cordially,
Robin Elizabeth Margolis
www.ediscoverypara.wordpress.com

[Carole Carrion]

Shawnna,

The article was very enlightening.

Thank you.

Carole Carrion

[Stephanie Kimbro]

One of the biggest benefits of using "cloud computing" or SaaS is that the attorney using the service is able to minimize his or her law practice overhead. This benefits the public because the attorney is then able to pass along those savings to clients in the form of more affordable legal services. Virtual Law Office Technology (VLOTech) has been setting up completely web-based virtual law offices (VLOs) nationwide for attorneys interested in using the technology as an alternative to a traditional law office or as a way to provide online legal services to clients in addition to a brick & mortar law office. The public is certainly comfortable using the technology and the legal profession is becoming more aware of its benefits.