Last week with Steve Jobs’ announcement of iCloud there has been a lot of chatter about cloud computing. In July 2010 I was introduced to the concept of cloud computing by a friend and became very interested in how we could use this here at Harvard but also to tell our clients how it could possibly help their business as well. So in this article I want to help answer questions we all may have regarding cloud computing.

What is Cloud Computing?

Cloud computing in layman’s terms is defined as an updated version of utility computing: basically virtual servers available over the internet contain your information and your software applications. You access them remotely and seamlessly from your desktop.

How could Cloud Computing help your company?

Cloud computing is a way to increase capacity or add capabilities on the fly without investing new infrastructure, training new personnel, or licensing new software, but it is also a way to protect your valuable data from a local disaster were it to destroy your building. Your software and data is accessible from your office, but it does not reside in your office.

How does Cloud Computing work?

Instead of installing a suite of software for each computer, and tying into a local server in your office for data access you connect to remote servers, that could be anywhere in the world, or in several places around the world. You have only to load one application. That application would allow everyone in your company, from multiple locations, to log into a web-based service which hosts all the programs that user would need for his or her job, and all the data you need.

The term “Cloud Computing” makes it all sound a bit mysterious but it works just like a local area network. In fact, users can’t tell the difference.

So think about the time this could save you and your company when you have people traveling all over the world making presentations and everything that is needed is only a click away.

For more information on “What cloud computing really means” click HERE.

For more information on “How Cloud Computing Works” click HERE.

The Court of Chancery, as many of you know is one of the great perks of incorporating in Delaware. At Harvard Business Services we like to keep up with the latest news regarding nominations, here’s an excerpt from a delawareonline.com article on the latest breaking news.

Vice Chancellor Leo E. Strine Jr., the colorful and sometimes combative judge in Delaware’s Court of Chancery, has been nominated to lead the forum considered the premier venue for corporate battles and the linchpin to the state’s lucrative incorporations franchise.

Gov. Jack Markell announced the nomination Wednesday, just one week before the scheduled retirement of Chancellor William B. Chandler III, whose last day is June 17.

Strine, 47, who is widely known in America’s corporate law community as a highly intelligent and talented jurist, has served on the court since 1998 as one of four vice chancellors. In that position, Strine developed a national reputation for his penetrating opinions and courtroom humor.

Read the full article HERE.

I was recently driving in my car listening to NPR when I heard an interesting story regarding entrepreneurial pursuits and higher education, see below for an excerpt:

Peter Thiel, the PayPal co-founder and one of the first investors in Facebook, is proposing a controversial path toward more rapid innovation. Today his Thiel Foundation announced that it was giving 24 people under 20 $100,000 fellowships to drop out of school for two years to start a their own companies.

Some of the recipients are leaving first-rate institutions like Harvard and Stanford to take the fellowship. In a press release, the foundation’s head, James O’Neill, said that in taking the fellowship they were “challenging the authority of the present and the familiar.”

Read the full article HERE. Let us know what you think in the comments!

At Harvard Business Services we believe there is not one path to success and that many entrepreneurs thrive in the real world but not in school. It is up to the individual to decide what is right for them and their skills.