The Goals

Hi, I’m Duane Craig, and welcome to Construction Cloud Computing. I’ve been a residential superintendent, landscaper and journalist (all at different times). Three years ago I started the Construction Informer blog. I’ve launched this new site to focus exclusively on cloud computing. And here’s why.

It seems like a very timely and relevant topic based on my conversations with builders, architects and engineers about the challenges they face everyday in not only running their businesses but in having to manage computing hardware and software as well. It seems they are really more interested in building than in running IT operations. Cloud computing holds the promise of freeing them to pursue their true passions. Construction Cloud Computing brings together information from across the cloud spectrum to inform those in the construction, architecture and engineering fields.

It’s our goal to bring you important information about cloud computing so you understand it, and can see ways to leverage it for your own, unique business. You can depend on our coverage being objective and well-sourced, with references noted so you can be sure we aren’t just creating content for search engine digestion.

Cloud Computing Concepts

Computing is moving steadily to the Internet. In the not-too-distant future content creation, manipulation and consumption will happen largely online. The devices that connect you to the Internet will no longer need to have massive hard drives and buckets of RAM since the power of computing will reside in huge data centers running all the latest hardware and software.

The Internet has often been represented by a cloud in schematic diagrams, thus the term cloud computing. But all it really means is the computational power happens on remote hardware and the interaction between the user and the hardware happens via the Internet.

For construction, architecture and engineering, this portends to be technology nirvana. The smallest contractor will have the computer power of the largest, and the one-person architecture or engineering shop will no longer be hamstrung by the costs of hardware and software.

B. Kumar of the Glasgow Caledonian University, UK, and J.C.P. Cheng, at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology authored a paper called, “Cloud Computing and its Implications for Construction IT.” The authors describe cloud computing as “anything that involves delivering hosted services over the Internet.” They reported that 90 percent of the construction sector is small to medium-sized businesses. Cloud computing they wrote, holds promise for construction because of the pricing model. The idea is that you pay as you go, and only for the computing power and applications that you need at any given time.