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Q: I was wondering if the future of (cloud computing) will have providers hosting applications such as Timberline and they handle upgrades, backups, etc. I have been a little unclear if this is mainly a data storage method or application and data combined. I am somewhat hopeful it is although I haven't completely considered the downsides. Any help with where this is all going would be great.
Jeff Crawford
Lionberger Construction

A: Cloud computing allows a company to move data, application servers and business processes out of their traditional onsite location into the cloud, or managed provider. A few things to keep in mind are data security requirements, bandwidth needs, and the overall service quality from your hosted solutions provider. We've moved our email to the cloud, however, Timberline isn't a viable solution as of yet based on our performance tests.
Keith Murley
Schimenti Construction

A: There are a number of application providers that are either looking at or beginning to provide a cloud option (SAS Software as a Service).  For some companies to have their application supported/backed up/maintained/DR for them is a good option. Although as Keith has alluded to there are a lot of things to consider before moving your ERP or business applications to the cloud. It is a business decision that should be investigated and strongly evaluated before moving forward.
Luther Burrell
Ivey Mechanical

A: We use Microsoft's BPOS for SharePoint On-line. Due to an error on the Microsoft side we were unable to use the service for four days. If it was a business critical application (it was bad enough as it was) I would be out of a job. Think long and hard before giving someone else control over your applications.
Jerry Humble
Penhall Company

A: Agreed. Typically for small installs it may be worth it monetarily, but keeping it in-house is the safer bet. No one cares more about your infrastructure than you.
Todd Eldredge MCSE, VCP, CCA
Donley's