I first wrote a post about Cloud Computing (at Google in this case) back in Jan 2008, prior to when I even regularly posted to this blog and just came across another in-depth story that makes the topic worth revisiting here.
The July 15 issue of BusinessWeek contains an in depth piece (with associated sub-stories) titled "How Cloud Computing Will Change Business" that shows a compelling area of technology taking off at a fast pace. The term cloud computing may not be familiar to all, but it's usage is close to ubiquitous. Everything from e-mail accounts through Gmail and yahoo to Facebook and YouTube involves information "in the cloud".
The BW story gets off to a compelling start when it references a Bill Gates speech back in 1990 (forever ago in technology time) that references three coming developments:
"1. A more personal PC"... iPhone anyone?
"2. More powerful communications networks"... granted high-speed Internet could be as far along in the US as in Europe and Asia, but should continue improving.
"3. Easy access to a broad range of information"... there you go, the aforementioned cloud (data on servers backed up by other servers).
Solid stuff.
Also of interest is some of the BW vignettes about various usages of Cloud Computing by companies. Probably most interesting to me was "How Clouds Can Change Management" about the uber-connected approach taken by the CEO of Serena Software. Small story, but a cool look at what a company can do when it really wants to take advantage of available technology.
