The future of databases belongs to the phenomenon of cloud computing. It is starting to become standardized in every facet of technology where data is concerned, from giants like Amazon and Apple to home computing. Rather than having an external hard drive collecting dust on your desk to back up data, storage devices the size of a hard covered book can hang out, like your wireless router, and store terabytes of information that can be accessed through authorized devices from anywhere.

Applications like Dropbox are being used for personal, professional and academic purposes. Dropbox can be accessed on any Internet connecting device to store information that multiple users can retrieve from anywhere, anytime. Dropbox is a free service for a certain amount of storage and then costs a small fee when larger amounts of space are needed. Just drag a file into Dropbox and grant access to the folder to whomever you wish and they can drag it out even from their smartphone in less than a second. This is perfect for business, school and personal use. No more worrying about a hard drive crash, “my dog ate my homework” or “I forget my flash drive at home.” Companies can go to trade shows, write orders for a customer and upload it into their order processing software cloud, and that’s it.

When Amazon released the Kindle Fire just before Christmas, one of the main features they promoted was the fact that only 8GB of storage was needed on the device because access to Amazon’s cloud storage negated the need for bulkier storage in the tablet. If you’re going out of wi-fi range for a while you just access what files you want to take up the 8GB while you’re in range and then swap it out as soon as you’re back in range. This is going to inspire a revolutionary change in the public and academic library worlds as well.Physical storage space will become a thing of the past and library rentals will all be done online.

Personal cloud storage like the Western Digital My Book Live make up to 3TB of files accessible from anywhere with an authorized device.

So, there you have it, personal, business, academic, library, and mobile technology—they’re all moving into the cloud. The Internet gave us public information from anywhere, but the cloud gives us all our information in public. The sheer efficiency of access is going to change the future of business and logistics and data storage in staggering ways once everybody gets on board.

About the Author: Lisa is a guest post blogger who writes about news and trends in technology and software and how to get an HP coupon for deals.

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