WHAT IS THE CLOUD?
How the big computer network in the sky saves your photos, documents and more
WORDS SCOTT DUTFIELD
Taking inspiration from the fluffy, water-filled objects in the sky, the digital cloud has been designed to store every drop of data on your computer at the touch of a button. Every computer, smartphone or tablet comes with a limited memory to store a whole host of information, such as documents, images and music. Once the internal memory is full, you might employ a backup, such as a DVD, memory card or hard drive, to store more information. The cloud is just another method of storage; rather than plugging in another piece of hardware, all the information you want to store is sent and saved in servers around the world via the internet. Tech giants such as Amazon, Google and IBM operate hundreds of data centres and millions of servers around the globe that store consumer data that can be recalled through cloud services, such as Google Drive, Apple iCloud and Netflix.