Steve Staso - Computing Solutions Strategist

fiveReview of :
http://www.cio.com/article/511478/Five_Big_Questions_About_Cloud_Computing

• The Cloud explained (again) this time with 5 characteristics.
• Cloud appliances from IBM and others - usually blade-based systems with virtualization, web services, and chargeback already installed for "cloudlike" manageability of the datacenter and the applications that run in it.
• Google's Chrome OS - An OS or just a good browser? But if it works as advertised, who cares.
• Server-based desktops apps like MS Office Web Apps, Google Docs, and Zoho - suitable alternatives in many cases especially when collaborating, but still or maybe never, going to pose a major threat to locally installed office applications. HTML 5 may be the answer. Are thin clients going to make a comeback?
• Big Data - crunch your data in a non-structured format using MapReduce algorithms with Hadoop or Amazon's Elastic MR.
• Platforms like Force.com and Azure - probably where the real impact can be made with a competitive advantage.