"For the purposes of this book, cloud-based technology will be loosely defined as "server space or application services that are not based in your organization". The essence of the cloud is that no one should care much about where the information and applications used actually live. It's just "out there" somewhere. Of course, for truly comprehensive disaster planning, you do want to know where your data and applications are being stored so that you can choose multiple locations across the country for their storage. If a hurricane hits Florida and all your data was in a server farm in Miami, you might have a problem. Multiple data farms in use in multiple areas of the country keep your data safe - sort of a large-scale LOCKSS (Lots Of Copies Keep Stuff Safe) solution. For the most part, though, and for the purposes of this book unless indicated otherwise - cloud-based means not in your building or office space"-- Provided by publisher.