The Non-Technical Geek

April 19, 2021 by Rex McNally COO & Partner MAVAN Capital

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Welcome to the first of what I hope is many entries from a guy that loves technology, but is not all that “tech-savvy”. Now, I’m not saying I cannot sync my email to my phone, I can, however, if you need me to do back-end coding to a website, I would outsource it for sure.

I hope that I can help to break down some common technologies and uses we now see in the tech world. I would love to see this blog lead to more of an understanding of how technology can improve and simplify your life and work.

The first topic, a potentially big one, The Cloud and Cloud Computing.

What is the Cloud? I am certain you have heard the term and you know that “everything is in the cloud”, but where is the Cloud and how does it work?

When I refer to the Cloud, in a nutshell, I am referring to servers… a lot of servers. In the interests of not getting too granular, a server is a computer or program that is dedicated to managing a network of computers that share resources. In its simplicity, they are called “servers” because they “serve” to host all of your things.

When you use the internet for sending and receiving information, you can essentially store the information from anywhere in the world, which then lives in an imaginary stratosphere. The term “Cloud” has been around since the 1960s, where it was used as a symbol in flowcharts to represent the internet.

These computers live somewhere, they have to, in a place similar to a large storage unit on the outskirts of town where you may have your old high school trophies and yearbooks. Okay, not exactly, but you get the idea. There are large amounts of data being stored for clients all around the world, including photos, documents, and spreadsheets, which can be quickly accessed and forwarded. Think iCloud or Dropbox as some more well-known servers. Everyone from Fortune 500 companies to my mom uses the Cloud, although Moma McNally does not know she has 2000 cat pictures in the Cloud. It is satisfying to know that you, or Moma McNally for that matter, do not have to drive to the outskirts of town to obtain that data when you need it. It can be accessed from anywhere, anytime.

I hope I’m not confusing the conversation, as mentioned, the Cloud is a big topic and this is just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak.

In order to keep this brief, a mention on Cloud computing.

We could divide Cloud computing into three categories:

Platform as a Service (PaaS)
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
Software as a Service (SaaS)

Let’s leave those platforms for another day. SaaS is a topic I am very passionate about and one of our fastest growing companies, Introhive, is mastering it. I look forward to sharing more on that topic with you.