Cloud computing can offer companies and organisations an IT system that has greater flexibility, but at the same time far less expensive than conventional systems, said experts at a recent seminar held in Bahrain.

Around 75 IT users took part in the seminar organised by Bahrain-based Al Hilal Computers at the Crowne Plaza hotel on Monday.

'Cloud computing can offer a really flexible system that can meet a company's needs without constantly having to pay for more software,' said Dell EMEA emerging markets cloud computing lead Kevin Harris.

'Tradition-ally, the IT industry has sold companies new products every three years that are basically the same thing in a different wrapper. There is no reason why companies cannot use cloud computing on their existing equipment and have more flexibility,' he remarked.

'Cloud computing allows you to be more efficient and reduce costs while keeping the integrity of existing systems,' he added.

During his presentation, Harris asked how many IT professionals currently used cloud and only one delegate raised his hand. When he asked how many used Yahoo or Gmail, everyone agreed they did.

'Yahoo and other systems are actually cloud computing,' the expert said.

'IT professionals are using cloud computing and just don't know it personally. 'There is nothing new in the concept of cloud computing,' explained Harris.

'We have been using it for 10 years but now is the time for companies to benefit from the cost savings in this system,' he added.

Vision Solutions EMEA and growth markets vice-president Ahmed M Khattab, who spoke on the issue of disaster recovery solutions, said that so far no one had faced any problems by moving to cloud computing.

'There are many ways you can protect your IT environment and cloud computing provides the same security as any other software system,' he said.

'Cloud computing is a massive growth market, particularly in the Middle East, Russia, the CIS and Africa. We need to get the message over that our customers can trust the integrity of the system,' he added.-TradeArabia News Service