Cloud computing: The next best thing

WHEN PAPER was invented, it revolutionized the way people communicated while it allowed knowledge to be kept safe and intact in pieces of parchment.

When Johannes Gutenberg invented the movable type printing, information reached more people at a faster pace.

In the digital age, cloud computing has become the next best thing to the invention of paper and printing.

Trend Micro CEO Eva Chen likens the importance of cloud computing to paper and printing, which she says are significant facets in the history of information creation and sharing.

Cloud computing, which uses the Internet as both the repository and distribution platform for information, is already serving business and consumer purposes.

Addressing the recently held Trend Micro Asia Pacific Conference 2011 in Tokyo, Chen said the global information network was changing. More content is being created, managed, distributed and consumed.

In 2020, there will be 35 zettabytes (about 35 billion terabytes) of digitized information, 11 zettabytes of which will be in the cloud, Chen said.

With so much information in the cloud, Chen said the need to protect such important commodity was rising.

She said one goal would be to ensure information would remain safe from unwanted exploitation and damage.

Trend Micro has been at the forefront of cloud-based information security and management, Chen said. For years, Trend Micro has been investing in cloud-based data protection and virtualization.

What traditional security services lack, Trend Micro already provides.

“We use cloud computing, so we understand cloud infrastructure. We know how to use virtualization without compromising the network. We give not just outside-in threat protection but also inside-out data protection,” says Chen.

In 2010, Trend Micro reported $1.2 billion in sales, which translated to $350 million in earnings.

Trend Micro, which started in 1988, has operations in several countries. Its main base is in Japan, but its global threat response and technical support is in the Philippines.