Cloud
computinghas evolved through a number of
phases which include grid and utility computing, application
service provision (ASP), and Software as a Service
(SaaS).
But the overarching concept of delivering computing resources
through a global network is rooted in the sixties.
The idea of an
"intergalactic computer network" was introduced in
the
sixties by J.C.R. Licklider, who was responsible for enabling
the development of ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency
Network) in 1969.
His vision was for everyone on the globe to be interconnected
and accessing programs and data at any site, from anywhere,
explained Margaret Lewis, product marketing director at AMD. "It is
a vision that sounds a lot like what we are calling cloud
computing."
Other experts attribute the cloud concept to computer scientist
John McCarthy who proposed the idea of computation being
delivered as a public utility, similar to
the service
bureaus which date back to the sixties.
Since the sixties, cloud computing has developed along a number
of lines, with Web 2.0 being the most recent evolution. However,
since the internet only started to offer significant bandwidth in
the nineties, cloud computing for the masses has been something of
a late developer.
One of the first milestones for cloud computing was the arrival
of Salesforce.com in 1999, which pioneered the concept of
delivering enterprise applications via a simple website. The
services firm paved the way for both specialist and mainstream
software firms to deliver applications over the internet.
The next development was Amazon Web Services in 2002, which
provided a suite of cloud-based services including storage,
computation and even human intelligence through the
Amazon Mechanical
Turk.
Then in 2006, Amazon launched its Elastic Compute cloud (EC2) as
a commercial web service that allows small companies and
individuals to rent computers on which to run their own computer
applications.
"Amazon EC2/S3 was the first widely accessible cloud computing
infrastructure service," said Jeremy Allaire, CEO of
Brightcove, which provides
its SaaS online video platform to UK TV stations and
newspapers.
Another big milestone came in 2009, as Web 2.0 hit its stride,
and Google and others started to offer browser-based enterprise
applications, though services such as
Google Apps.
"The most important contribution to cloud computing has been the
emergence of "killer apps" from leading technology giants such as
Microsoft and Google. When these companies deliver services in a
way that is reliable and easy to consume, the knock-on effect to
the industry as a whole is a wider general acceptance of online
services," said Dan Germain, chief technology officer at IT service
provider Cobweb Solutions.
Other key factors that have enabled cloud computing to evolve
include the maturing of virtualisation technology, the development
of universal high-speed bandwidth, and universal software
interoperability standards, said UK cloud computing pioneer Jamie
Turner.
Turner added, "As cloud computing extends its reach beyond a
handful of early-adopter Google Docs users, we can only begin to
imagine its scope and reach. Pretty much anything can be delivered
from the cloud."
Following the cloud
"Many IT professionals recognise the benefits cloud computing
offers in terms of increased storage, flexibility and cost
reduction," said Songnian Zhou, chief executive officer of
Platform Computing.
But he added that IT directors still have concerns about the
security of their corporate data in the cloud. This means that it
will be 2010 at the earliest before cloud adoption sees increased
growth.
Julian Friedman, a specialist in emerging technologies, said
that security and other concerns will soon be resolved.
"Considerations such as security, data privacy, network
performance and economics are likely to lead to a mix of cloud
computing centres both within the company firewall and outside of
it."
He added that today's applications will naturally move towards a
cloud model as they become more pervasively available through the
web, require more data processing, and span the boundaries of
multiple devices.
Experts seem to agree that cloud computing will ultimately
transform today's computing landscape.
Andreas Asander, vice-principal of product management at
virtualisation security specialist
Clavister, said that once
the security issues are resolved, cloud computing services "can
enable an enterprise to expand its infrastructure, add capacity on
demand, or outsource the whole infrastructure, resulting in greater
flexibility, a wider choice of computing resources and significant
cost savings."
It is clear that cloud computing can bring enormous benefits for
IT users.
However, the bottom line for IT directors is that they will need
to continue to manage their internal computing environments, whilst
learning how to secure, manage and monitor the growing range of
external resources residing in the cloud.