SFlanders Posts

In my last blog entry about cloud computing, I answered the question: what is cloud computing? To do this, I defined the term cloud and then laid out some fundamental characteristics of cloud computing. Now, I would like to give a more formal definition of cloud computing. In perusing multiple articles on the topic, it has become apparent to me that there is no globally accepted definition of the term. This is understandable given the fact that cloud computing is still an evolving paradigm. In addition, many definitions that are available lack core and fundamental characteristics of the term.

My good friend Luca sent me the following email a couple weeks back:

I thought you would find this Q&A in the newspaper entertaining. The Dallas Morning News just lost your company money:

Question: I’ve been listening to and reading a lot of tech news lately, trying to stay current, and there’s something that I’m having trouble understanding – cloud computing. What exactly does that term mean?

Answer: The cloud is a metaphor for ‘the Internet’. This started because in drawing flowcharts of various computer networks, the Internet was usually represented by a drawing of a cloud. Simply put, cloud computing means using the Internet to provide your programs and store your data. Instead of spending $300 on a new copy of Microsoft Office, you might find that Google’s online suite, Google Docs, will do just fine. With Google Docs, for example, you create your word processing or spreadsheet documents through Google’s Web site and you don’t have to install any software. It’s all stored ‘in the cloud.’ So ‘in the cloud’ has come to mean any online application or storage. Read the Wikipedia entry on cloud computing if you’d like to know more.

This got me thinking, what is cloud computing?