We hear it all the time now. “I’m going to move my information to the cloud”, it’s the answer to the question, about where a company or a person stores their data, “Oh, we use the cloud. We have for the past couple of years now.”  Or you see a company promote the fact that they store your information securely in “the cloud.”  So, what does that all mean?  The Cloud?  Is there larger space station style data storage facility floating over earth that one’s information is held in and you just “send” your information up there for safe and secure storage?  Or is there really a cloud of water vapor floating above us that holds all our work presentations, company’s budgets, social security numbers, our bank accounts, emails and photos?  Ok, we all know that’s not the case but, there is a lot of confusion and questions about what it means to store one’s data in the cloud.  So, we thought we’d spend a little time to simplify what “the cloud” means, where the “the cloud” is and also clear up some of the typical misconception and confusion about “the cloud.”First of all, “the cloud” is not a typical cloud of water vapor in any way, shape or form.  It has nothing to do with metrology or weather patterns.  “The cloud” is simply a term used to cover the large world of data storage and at times is centered around off-site data storage facilities that are now located all across the world.  Believe it or not, the concept actually goes back to 1960s but it wasn’t until the 1990s, when AT&T launched one of the first storage concepts that was all web-based.  The idea of cloud storage or cloud computing didn’t gain widespread recognition or adoption until mid-2000s with services such as Dropbox, Smugmug, and Pinterest.In North America, some of the largest facilities are based in places we’d associate with data and technology, places like Silicon Valley in California, large markets like Chicago or on the East coast in New York City’s Wall Street area.  There are large Canadian cities like Toronto or Montreal that also are home to large data centers.  Often times, these large facilities are in locations that the general public doesn’t typically associate with IT or technology in general. Often times, these facilities are located in states such as Texas, Virginia, Nevada, Utah, Iowa or South Dakota. Since the newest data centers can be extremely large facilities, some covering in excess of 50 acres, they are built in places were land is more affordable, construction costs are typically lower and utilities costs are cheaper than in and around large metropolitan areas. These facilities need a tremendous amount of electricity to function properly.  Not only to continually operate the IT equipment but to control things that are important to keeping the facilities running properly like cooling and ventilation, fire suppression and monitoring and physical security systems.  But also, they need to be close enough to a metropolitan area to ensure that there is a qualified work force around them to fill all the roles at the facility.So, when someone says they have moved their information to “the cloud” what the really mean is that instead of storing their company’s or their individual information on the computer system at their office or home or on stack of external hard drives they picked up at an electronics store, they are now storing the information at one of these off-site secure facilities and have access to it through the high-speed connections.  Some companies build their own data centers while others rent or lease space from other companies who own and operate the large facilities.  So, there are Public Clouds, owned and operated by providers who sell or lease space for others to use, and there are Private Clouds, owned and operated by a single business or organization and used for their own purposes. And then of course there the hybrid version that companies own and use the majority of space but lease or share space with others.