| Cloud computing is a broadly defined concept that is | | | | other to concentrate a great amount of computing |
| slowly changing the way organizations operate and | | | | power. |
| the way IT thinks about itself. A recent insightful | | | | In the first case, a company might replace its |
| piece by The Associated Press discusses the concept | | | | individual versions of a word processing program with |
| in great detail. | | | | one stored in the cloud. In the latter case, a |
| The writer says Genentech, a biotechnology | | | | pharmaceutical firm might amass huge lots of |
| company with 16,300 employees, is the largest | | | | number-crunching CPUs to research a drug. The |
| company that so far has opted for Google's cloud for | | | | obvious point is that these are very different uses |
| desktop applications. It still will use Microsoft | | | | and, thus, different skills will be needed from |
| software for some functions and the piece notes | | | | vendors, consultants and others to make each work. |
| that the company's CEO is on Google's board. | | | | Here is more good detail on the cloud ecosystem [ |
| The article provides a good description of the | | | | The first part of the story reiterates the point that |
| concept and major players such as and NetSuite. | | | | the emerging platform is extremely broadly defined. |
| Those who stand to lose the most - Microsoft, SAP, | | | | It also has not come from out of the blue: There are |
| Oracle - also are discussed. The bottom line clearly is | | | | many elements that have been kicking around for a |
| that cloud computing is here to stay, but that legacy | | | | while. The piece discusses Azure, XO |
| approaches are far from dead. | | | | Communications' Concentric, AT&T, Verizon and |
| Another look at cloud computing positions 2008 as a | | | | Cisco. The feature is followed by a sidebar that |
| year of transition. It condenses the important | | | | discusses the challenges in cloud implementation. |
| announcements that were made. Microsoft, which | | | | These include laws in some places that mandate that |
| obviously sees that cloud computing is a big threat to | | | | user information doesn't leave the country; the |
| its desktop productivity software empire, launched | | | | difficulty of integrating multiple services and multiple |
| Windows Azure. The program enables developers to | | | | clouds; how to guarantee accessibility and the need |
| write for a Microsoft cloud. Announcements also | | | | for standards. |
| were made by AT&T, VMware and IBM. | | | | A video from rPath is perfect for IT to send to an |
| Collectively, these announcements make it clear that | | | | executive who is curious about cloud computing. It is |
| the cloud is moving into the corporate area. | | | | short - about 4 1/2 minutes - and sums up the |
| Big concepts - and cloud computing is a very big | | | | antecedents and possible future of cloud computing. |
| concept - generally are introduced in a generic and | | | | It also is entertaining. The piece says that several |
| generalized manner. As time goes by, the overall idea | | | | elements coalesced to give cloud computing life, |
| is refined and subdivided into a number of different | | | | including inexpensive broadband, virtualization, |
| approaches and categories. A recent commentary, | | | | software-as-a-service and utility computing. |
| which refers to the executive summary of a | | | | There is general agreement on the state of cloud |
| Forrester report on which it is partially based, | | | | computing: It is a big deal and still in its formative |
| suggests that there are two types of clouds. One | | | | stages. It appears that 2009 will be a pivotal year as |
| seeks to replace device-based applications and the | | | | vendors and service providers refine their plans. |