Salesforce.com produced a great video that explains cloud computing in laymen terms. Although the video has a bit of a “sales” spin, I think you will get the point of the video… enjoy!

The downturn in the economy is forcing companies to take a closer look at the phenomena called cloud-computing. So who owns the cloud? Is it Salesforce, Google, Amazon, or Microsoft? In case you missed the cloud-computing discussion facilitated by TechCrunch, you can now revisit the the show here…

Chris Preimesberger, on the topic of “10 Predictions for the Future of SAAS and On-Demand”:

SAAS, or cloud computing, on-demand applications or whatever you want to call it, is increasingly important in the enterprise. One software-as-a-service company, Innotas, provides an on-demand Project Portfolio Management package specifically designed for IT organizations. Customers include Forbes, Hamilton Beach and Simon & Schuster, as well as financial services, health care, retail, technology, telecommunications and energy organizations. Innotas CTO, founder and SAAS evangelist Demian Entrekin shares with eWEEK his thoughts on what lies ahead for SAAS as it continues to grow into a major marketing, sales and administration tool for enterprise business.

eWeek.com presents 10 Predictions for the Future of SAAS and On-Demand

Back in February of this year, Michael Callahan, Co-Founder of Ambient Corporation, introduced the world to an amazing neckband technology called the Audeo. While still in its infancy, the Audeo essentially translates thought into speech by picking up nerve signals. The signals are wirelessly sent to a computer which are then converted into words spoken by a computerized voice.

Cloud Computing: Amazon’s Web Services in a Nutshell (7:11 min)

What is Cloud Computing?

Ask ten people this question and you will likely get ten different answers. If the topic of the cloud seems too abstract and confuses you, don’t worry, you are not alone. I often find myself needing to revisit the notion to make sure my understanding is still current with today’s interpretation. While the concept is not new, it is important that we build an awareness around the impact of this evolving phenomena.

We are witnessing a seismic shift in information technology — the kind that comes around every decade or so. It is so massive that it affects not only business models, but the underlying architecture of how we develop, deploy, run and deliver applications. This shift has given a new relevance to ideas such as cloud computing and utility computing. Not surprisingly, these two different ideas are often lumped together.

Geva Perry, CMO at GigaSpace Technologies  | Read full post…

So, what exactly is cloud computing? Let’s see what some of the industry insiders have to say…

So what does all of this mean?

The definition of cloud computing is all still a bit “cloudy.”  Ask ten people to explain cloud computing and you will still likely get ten different answers.  In the future, expect to see leading experts continue to gather, collaborate, and share best-practices at venues such as the Cloud Computing Expo, Cloud Computing Bootcamp, and Cloud Camp.

Hype and Naysayers aside, a quick glance at the Top 100 Cloud Computing Companies and it’s easy to see that the interest in cloud computing is not going away anytime soon. While the tech-world continues to sort through the details of defining the value of cloud computing, expect a bumpy ride until we arrive at our final our destination.

]]> http://cloudrecruiting.net/hype-and-naysayers-aside-cloud-computing-is-here-to-stay/feed/ 1 http://cloudrecruiting.net/the-future-of-the-cloud/ http://cloudrecruiting.net/the-future-of-the-cloud/#comments Tue, 18 Nov 2008 14:33:47 +0000 Michael Marlatt http://cloudrecruiting.net/?p=2036 SAN FRANCISCO–The cloud was omnipresent at the Web 2.0 Summit as industry executives discussed the migration from the client to millions of virtualized servers as the information pipe.

“There is a lot of hype. We think about the cloud as the next evolution in computing,” said Cisco Chief Technology Officer Padmasree Warrior. “It’s a way of abstracting the services and applications from the physical resources and using a more on-demand layer.”

Warrior believes that cloud computing will evolve from private and stand-alone clouds to hybrid clouds, which allow movement of applications and services between clouds, and finally to a federated “intra-cloud.”

See original post here: The future of the cloud.

LOS ANGELES–Microsoft on Monday announced a version of Windows that runs over the Internet from inside Microsoft’s own data centers.

Dubbed Windows Azure, it’s less a replacement for the operating system that runs on one’s own PC than it is an alternative for developers, intended to let them write programs that live inside Microsoft’s data centers as opposed to on the servers of a given business.

“It’s a transformation of our software and a transformation of our strategy,” said Ray Ozzie, a computing industry pioneer who now serves as Microsoft’s chief software architect. (For a play-by-play account of Ozzie’s speech, see “PDC 2008: Windows Azure live blog.”)

Microsoft launches Windows Azure | Latest Microsoft News – CNET News – CNET News.

Big Blue opens up the beta for Bluehouse, its so-called Facebook for the enterprise, and bundles Sametime Unyte as part of the new cloud initiative.

IBM has joined the companies jostling for position in the cloud computing space. The company has announced a variety of offerings that it claimed would allow users to better manager data and make collaboration easier.

The company has opened up the beta for Bluehouse, the company’s so-called Facebook for the enterprise. The software has been available in closed beta for the past nine months but is now being made available to anyone. The company said that Bluehouse would combine social networking and online collaboration tools to help organizations to share documents, contacts, engage in joint project activities, host online meetings, and build social networking communities through a Web browser.