Legal Research

Cloud Computing

I've given a few talks lately and I was surprised to get a few questions about "what is cloud computing?" I guess I really do live in the bubble. Then again I have had my share of what is YouTube? eBay? iTunes? questions lately too. I guess there are other bubbles.

And it is actually much more than providing applications like Zoho and Google Docs.

Anyway, here's a link:

10 Cloud Computing Companies to Watch

"Cloud computing is spreading through the IT world like wildfire, with innovative start-ups and established vendors alike clamoring for customer attention. Generally speaking, cloud providers fall into three categories: software-as-a-service providers (SaaS); infrastructure-as-a-service vendors that offer Web-based access to storage and computing power; and platform-as-a-service vendors that give developers the tools to build and host Web applications."

Read the article but who are those companies?:

1. Amazon
2. AT&T
3. Enomaly
4. Google
5. GoGrid
6. Microsoft
7. NetSuite
8. Rackspace
9. Rightscale
10. Salesforce.com

It is a who's who of IT companies.

SirsiDynix offers both SaaS and hosting. The good news is that this architecture offers savings on TCO (total cost of ownership) of up to 50%. We have well over 550 library systems on SaaS already including some high security environments. In these difficult economic times there is no reason not to consider SaaS architectures.

Stephen

Full post as published by Stephen's Lighthouse on May 27, 2009 (boomark / email).