Cloud computing refers to the increasing tendancy for online applications to be built and housed online, rather than on an individual’s computer or a smaller company’s servers.
Large data centres are renting out spare capacity to store online applications.
Amazon (with its Elastic Cloud Service) and Google (with its online applications including Google Docs) are already active in the field of cloud computing, and Microsoft has just anounced Microsoft Azure, which will allow the online storage of applications and data.
At its best, cloud computing taps into the principles behind Web 2.0, as applications stored online, or “in the cloud”, can be updated regularly and quickly in response to the ongoing “conversation” between developers and users.
By Sarah at UK Broadband Finder
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