com, but not gross or net profit on each or inventory data on their NetSuite application. There could be one database in the cloud for Oracle, one for NetSuite, and one for manufacturing, in separate clouds. Each cloud is a silo that needs to "talk" to the other applications. If Salesforce.com and NetSuite are at www.TechnicalPDF.com different clouds, each will have a different database. The solution is for applications in separate clouds to be linked together. This is not currently possible. In the pharmaceutical industry, document workflow management that tracks drug development is needed for regulatory approval of new drugs. Product safety must be documented; safety results, pricing, and the name of the drug are all required reports. Pharmaceutical companies must report on problems such as the adverse effects of drugs and what caused them as well as product packaging issues such as tampering with over-the- counter drugs in retail outlets. While people in the same company may be able to add to reports fairly easily, having staff from other organizations access this information on the cloud complicates security because of log-on and authentication requirements. Because of security concerns, collaboration on product development between multiple companies is a challenge when using the cloud. Because businesses are worried about security, they build all kinds of barriers around accessing this data. So organizations that need to collaborate with other companies may keep some applications in-house SO they can control access more easily when collaborating with other organizations. Keeping Up with Automatic Updates Without cloud computing, IT departments have the challenge of updating applications on their own as updates become available. Some of these updates are security patches for newly discovered viruses. A virus is a piece of computer code that is developed by hackers to damage and/or steal computer files. As new viruses are discovered manufacturers and developers provide application updates to customers. These u