Cloud Computing

Cloud Computing a style of computing where IT-related capabilities are provided "as a service", allowing users to access technology-enabled services "in the cloud" without knowledge of, expertise with, or control over the technology infrastructure that supports them. The idea of Web-based applications old, Sun proposed "the Network is the Computer" many years before cloud computing became popular. The idea of computing as a commodity or utility can also be found in Grid Computing visions. Cloud computing became ultimately possible through large companies like Amazon, Google, Sun, IBM, and Microsoft who offer a part of their huge computational capacity, storage and virtual servers as a service. Like any next big trend and buzzword it sounds nebulous, and means many things to different people.

Links

• Wikipedia entry for Cloud Computing

• InfoWorld article What cloud computing really means

• Technology Review article Computer in the Cloud

• NYTimes.com article about Cloud Computing