The top trends driving cloud use.

• Position: CLOUD - Evaluation of cloud computing - Brief article

There are many ways to leverage the cloud. Some can make you a hero, others can be disastrous. To understand both scenarios, it helps to look at how others are using the cloud. According to a recent Cloud Computing Magazine article by Mike Chase, J.D., executive vice president and chief technology officer for the cloud service provider dinCloud, some of the top trends are:

* Virtual offices for disaster recovery--Companies intent on staying in business no matter what are leveraging the cloud to relieve concerns about the effects of such emergencies as environmental disasters, global terrorism, criminal activity (internal and external), and shifting legal/political landscapes. Setting up virtual offices with servers, desktops, file shares, and everything synced to the cloud can make business continuity easier.

* Desktop as a service--The cloud can offer so much more than the typical enterprise desktop. There are fewer licensing headaches and the cloud may have functionality that is not even available at the enterprise level.

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