Offering software as a service is just one of the many changes in the IT industry that cloud computing brings with the potential to reshape the way IT hardware is designed and purchased. Developers no longer need to waste money on costly resources and can still capture potential customers easier than ever before.

Berkeley's technical report said, "for new Internet services no longer require the large capital outlays in hardware to deploy their service or the human expense to operate it. They need not be concerned about overprovisioning for a service whose popularity does not meet their predictions, thus wasting costly resources, or underprovisioning for one that becomes wildly popular, thus missing potential customers and revenue."

It's easier to afford services that were once quite costly, "Moreover, companies with large batch-oriented tasks can get results as quickly as their programs can scale, since using 1000 servers for one hour costs no more than using one server for 1000 hours. This elasticity of resources, without paying a premium for large scale, is unprecedented in the history of IT."

Here's what's new in cloud computing, in hardware:

"1. The illusion of infinite computing resources available on demand, thereby eliminating the need for Cloud Computing users to plan far ahead for provisioning.

2. The elimination of an up-front commitment by Cloud users, thereby allowing companies to start small and increase hardware resources only when there is an increase in their needs.

3. The ability to pay for use of computing resources on a short-term basis as needed (e.g., processors by the hour and storage by the day) and release them as needed, thereby rewarding conservation by letting machines and storage go when they are no longer useful."

CONTENTS

Cloud Computing: An Old Idea Whose Time Has (Finally) Come

What is Cloud Computing?

"Cloud Computing refers to both the applications delivered as services over the Internet and the hardware and systems software in the datacenters that provide those services."

Clouds in a Perfect Storm: Why Now, Not Then?

"Once Cloud Computing was 'off the ground,' new application opportunities and usage models were discovered that would not have made sense previously."

• New Technology Trends and Business Models

• New Application Opportunities

Classes of Utility Computing

Cloud Computing Economics

• Elasticity: Shifting the Risk

• Comparing Costs: Should I Move to the Cloud?

Top 10 Obstacles and Opportunities for Cloud Computing

1. Availability of a Service 2. Data Lock-In 3. Data Confidentiality and Auditability 4. Data Transfer Bottlenecks 5. Performance Unpredictability 6. Scalable Storage 7. Bugs in Large-Scale Distributed Systems 8. Scaling Quickly 9. Reputation Fate Sharing 10. Software Licensing

Conclusion and Questions about the Clouds of Tomorrow

"We predict Cloud Computing will grow, so developers should take it into account. All levels should aim at horizontal scalability of virtual machines over the efficiency on a single VM."

• Applications Software
• Infrastructure Software
• Hardware Systems

More Information

Released on February 10, 2009, the mentioned technical report was provided by the Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences University of California at Berkeley.

Authors: Michael Armbrust, Armando Fox, Rean Griffith, Anthony D. Joseph, Randy H. Katz, Andrew Konwinski, Gunho Lee, David A. Patterson, Ariel Rabkin, Ion Stoica, Matei Zaharia

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