February 16, 2010

Cloud computing is one of the most hyped technology concepts in recent memory, and, like many buzzwords, the term "cloud" is overloaded and overused. A while back Ars ran an article attempting to clear some of the confusion by reviewing the cloud's hardware underpinnings and giving it a proper definition, and in this article I'll flesh out that picture on the software side by offering a brief tour of the cloud platform options available to development teams today.

I'll also discuss these options' key strengths and weaknesses, and I'll conclude with some thoughts about the kinds of advances we can expect in the near term. In all, though, it's important to keep in mind that what's presented here is just a snapshot. The cloud is evolving very rapidly—critical features that seem to be missing today may be standard a year from now.

Before I begin, it's worth noting one of the key reasons for the confusion that surrounds cloud computing.

Unlike most hot tech trends that attain buzzword status, the aspects of the cloud that make it a truly new form of client-server (e.g., rapid scalability from a few resource units to tens of thousands, metered usage models, the ability to access resources from any Internet-connected device, low barriers to client entry, etc.) also make it impossible, at least from a developer's perspective, to pin down into traditional "enterprise," "small to medium business," or "consumer" boxes that the IT world traditionally thinks in terms of. Enterprises, SMBs, and tiny startups, and lone coders all run their code on the cloud platforms described below.

It's true that each category of user faces different parameters and constraints when deciding how and where to use cloud services, and I'll reference a few of the issues that enterprise users face in the article below. But just because the basic perspective of this article is that of enterprise IT, much of the material has relevance to non-enterprise users, as well.

Source:-http://arstechnica.com