Cloud computing is all the rage now, and it isn’t just Google who are involved. So, where did the term originate from?
I believe there are three possibilities. First it was a trademark for a computing company who developed a patent. The company stopped using it in 1999.
A second possibility is when the New York Times supposedly used the phrase “a cloud of computers” in an article it published.
A third suggestion, and one that a number of experts think is probably the likeliest, is from a conference speech made by Google’s Eric Schmidt when he described the company’s approach of providing storage services as cloud computing.
Whatever its origins, however, the term is one, I think, that is now embedded in computer-speak – but what matters now are the trends related to cloud?
Experts, I believe, think there are a number of key trends. For example, there is something called real deployment. This basically refers to the growth in its use with estimates suggesting this year’s growth will be phenomenal; something in the order of ten times that of previous years.
A second possible development is the use of what has been called hybrid cloud – a mixture of public and private environments. Many companies still want to have some in-house feature but also have the ability to use external resources at the same time.
A third trend identified is cost. It is no longer a major factor. While the high maintenance costs of traditional in-house IT systems was originally the main reason for switching to, say, Google, companies are now looking for other things such as speed and agility.
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