How they work : “The Cloud Computing (Part IV)”

Alternative Cloud Providers Apart from Google’s quest, there are other interested parties; probably, that is why cloud computing is getting so much ado due to the effort of the companies struggling to make it happen. Microsoft, Amazon and IBM for instance, are some of those known to be considering cloud offerings. Two of the participants to offer Google or the Apple partnership a run for their money may be busy on their drawing boards trying to create equally or even better partnerships. As far back as Feb 2008, Microsoft announced it had made a bid for Yahoo, which would bolster both companies in their quest to beat out the search giant. In addition to massive computing power and many other Web services, Yahoo brings a very rich expertise in Web mail, network and photo site Flicker to the table. Meanwhile, Microsoft offers Windows Live, a word processing program and calendar. With its Office suite already entrenched in the desktops of offices across the country, a Microsoft cloud could enter the race as a contender. After all, there is a variety of Open source applications that Microsoft could exploit or even incorporate its own! Amazon.com is yet another potential competitor; already one of the world’s largest online retailers, the company has interests in other areas as well. Amazon Web Services is a suite of cloud resources aimed at small developers who need a place to work. The Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) gives users computing power for their work. They can store files in the Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) and use Simple-DB, a database, to store and access smaller files quickly. In its Blue Cloud initiative, IBM wants to network its massive computers, into a cloud. In November 2007, IBM announced its Blue Cloud initiative, offering a package of hardware and software to allow its customers to create their own internal clouds (according to LaMonica). The company has already partnered with Google to provide cloud solutions for a number of American universities. IBM is looking at expanding the program to embrace more and more universities, corporate and government institutions as well. A number of companies are offering hardware designed to operate on cloud networks; some which include Hewlett Packard and Dell. It is not necessary to have a computer in order to access a cloud network. All one needs is any device designed to link to the Internet, e.g. wireless phone. In January 2008, Google bid in a U.S. government auction for a 700 MHz radio frequency license which would allow them to operate a wireless phone service which was intended to much farther the Google ambition in this direction. The target was for the frequencies to be accessible by a range of devices, and the company got its wish. The spectrum became open-access (accessible to the public) once the bidding reached the $4.6 billion reserve price. In January 2008, Apple announced a new product that’s similar to a cloud computer, at the MacWorld San Francisco trade show, Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the closest thing it has to a cloud computing device: the MacBook Air. It’s less than an inch thick at its largest; Jobs pulled the demonstration model from a manila mailing envelope during the product announcement. It weighs nearly a kilogram. To streamline it, the engineers sacrificed an optical drive and some of its connections, including Ethernet. The battery was built-in in such a way that users cannot replace it themselves. Only difference from a thin client is that, has a hard drive, there is no problem, this can be a light and solid-state drive. eddie@afrowbs.com