Thanks to Techmeme, I just came across a great article on Business Week that talks about Cloud Computing, what it’s all about and what it means to all of us. It’s a great place for someone who hasn’t been exposed to all this “computing in the cloud” or “Software as a Service” terminology to get reading and get up to speed on what it’s all about. Here’s how the article defines it:
The term “cloud computing” encompasses many areas of tech, including software as a service, a software distribution method pioneered by Salesforce.com about a decade ago. It also includes newer avenues such as hardware as a service, a way to order storage and server capacity on demand from Amazon and others. What all these cloud computing services have in common, though, is that they’re all delivered over the Internet, on demand, from massive data centers.
It’s interesting to see how the idea has been around for 10 years, but it’s only now that it’s entering into the public space. Innovation always follows the same pattern, where early adopters take advantage of new technology, but eventually it enters the mass market and the playing field evens out again. Cloud computing is currently still in it’s early stages, so the playing field is still quite turbulent. However, you’d be surprised at how many websites and services you use everyday that make use of this concept to offload static files, or call on reserves when they need them.
It will be interesting to watch the market develop and whether Dell will manage to trademark the term!
Thanks for the information. Big news in Australia for cloud computing is Telstra have just announced a $500m investment into cloud services. Great news for the local industry.