Clear skies for cloud computing

As we are getting to understand the implications of Web 2.0 for public relations, it’s important to look ahead at trends on the horizon. A concept that has generated a lot of buzz in the last year is cloud computing.

Cloud computing refers to a data infrastructure where software and services are hosted on the Internet, rather than on a computer. Simply put, most of us currently use software that resides on our computers. With cloud computing, we would access these same types of applications through a Web browser. An early example of cloud computing is Google Docs, a free Web-based word processing and spreadsheet service similar to Microsoft Office.

Cloud technology, also referred to as “software as a service” or “SaaS,” is backed by the biggest names in the technology industry -- Google, IBM, Microsoft and Amazon, to name a few. To learn more about cloud computing, check out this New York Times article.