What is your take on cloud computing?

Cloud computing helps people in better facility of sending mail, storage, wikki etc. It gives better web space with online software to conduct their business, IT technicians and software developers see it as a convenient workspace to develop their projects, marketing & advertising. Other than cloud computing, nowadays other technologies like Virtualization, SaaS, SOA are new technology trends,Amazon’s EC2 are also available in the market...

Here is a summary on what the different aspects of cloud computing are - http://setandbma.wordpress.com/2009/09/03/cloud-strategy/.

The concept of the cloud has been around for quite sometime. People have been using it for mail, storage, wikki's etc. Recently it was given a name and declared as a cloud. People have their own perspective based on the offering and function. Business people will see it as a web space with online software to conduct their business, IT technicians and software developers see it as a convenient workspace to develop their projects, marketing & advertising professionals will consider it as a medium to further their functioning, people in the construction industry will view it as a means to collaborate on their designs and execution. The Web has grown and is still evolving.

Till a while ago we all were quite fascinated by the idea of putting up a hoarding on the internet, and proudly announcing the ownership of a website. That was just a bare begining. Like the time people used to bury their valuables in their backyard, like people used generate their own electricity or grow their own food. How we look at the Web is changing, due to the continous developments, and that is changing our lives and how we function today and the way are going to in the future.

Some call it Infrastructue as a Service (IaaS), some Software as a Service (SaaS) and others as a Platform as a Service PaaS), but it is nothing more than utilizing remotely maitained infrastructure (hardware & software) to do what we do. Even TooStep is on a cloud, we argue, debate and post our ideas on it.

I would define cloud computing as updated version of utility computing that would basically translate into virtual servers available over the Internet.

Another way to describe cloud computing in a layman’s language would be a sort of “on-demand hosting services on the internet” or plain and simple "pay for what you use" and / or a way to increase capacity or add capabilities on the fly without having to invest in new infrastructure, training new personnel or licensing new software. This would in real time enhance or extend the existing capabilities of IT over the Internet.  

Advantages of cloud computing according to me would be:

- Necessity for mainstream e-commerce sites/organizations

- Increased efficiency

- Low expenses

- Expandable

- Users are charged only for the usage e.g. memory or space, traffic, bandwidth which woould mean less misuse

- Online business or e-commerce sites would be better and more efficient as only the required space or storage will be used

Not only cloud computing, the other innovations like Virtualization, SaaS, SOA are new technology trends as a result of research which has certain advantages. Early adopters are very enthusiastic about these trends. As far as cloud computing is concerned, the end user need not know the underling architecture or such thing, he/she can utilize the computing power over the internet in order to resolve his/her problem/work. I have tried putting it in very simple way, Cloud has cost advantages, today the popular cloud seems to be Amazon’s EC2, and one can pay and get the computing power. I had a link to virtual PC, I am searching for it, If I find, then I’ll post the same, you can try for yourself.