It is never the technology, only your imagination which is holding you back.

To realize how good we have it, it is good to look in the past to remember how we used to do things.

I can recall starting a new venture. I was in charge of getting the IT of the business started -- and at the top of the list was getting a server to run all of our systems and data. That meant providing server specifications, choosing a vendor, placing the order, and finally, paying $10,000 for it. Of course, it wouldn’t arrive immediately. We had to wait for a couple of weeks to take delivery.

The server finally arrived! Then it was a day of installation into the server rack, configuring the disk array, installing OS, and all the utilities. That all before the tech team could start using it.

(In the end, the venture didn't work out as hoped. The idea is still valid after all these years and nobody - to my knowledge - solved it yet. I am sure its time will come.)

This short reminiscence reminds me of how easy it is to start and build any system. Let's take as an example Amazon Web Services (AWS). Don't take this as an advertisement for Amazon. You can go to Azure, Google, IBM and others.

With just your email and $0 investment, you can get a server and storage with a few clicks. Do you need to connect your sensors to the network and capture data? Done. Analytics? Of course. Stream the results around the world? No question. Is all that done securely? Without a question.

My favourite from the AWS stack of services? AWS Ground Station. You can easily control satellites and ingest data with a fully-managed Ground Station as a Service. (What!?!?!? If you excuse me, I have to go and build my own satellite and launch it.) 

The point of all this? When you are starting a new project or venture, focus on the idea and the business side of things. The technology is always the easy part.