The Cloud Mystery Cleared Up

What does "in the cloud" mean?

Are my pictures, files and data somehow stored in midair?

The "cloud" is simply internet connectivity to a data center where your pictures, files and data (or in our case your telephone system) are stored on computer servers in multiple data centers around the country surrounded by technicians 24/7. In the cloud makes many people nervous because they do not understand how much more secure this is than storing your data on your own computer wherever it is located.

From webopedia.com:

Cloud computing is a type of computing that relies on sharing computing resources rather than having local servers or personaldevices to handle applications. Cloud computing is comparable togrid computing, a type of computing where unused processing cycles of all computers in a network are harnesses to solve problems too intensive for any stand-alone machine.

Internet-Based Computing

In cloud computing, the word cloud (also phrased as "the cloud") is used as a metaphor for "the Internet," so the phrase cloud computing means "a type of Internet-based computing," where different services — such as servers, storage and applications — are delivered to an organization's computers and devices through the Internet.