Cloud Computing Shakes up Hosting Landscape

It was bound to happen sooner or later but the reality of Cloud Computing is now being felt from schools to corporations. In 2006, Google acquired a company called Upstartle whom were the owner of Writely. Writely, before the acquisition, was a popular online word processor where users could create, modify and store documents online through a web browser. It would essentially make Microsoft Office worthless and take away the importance of desktops running Windows. The aim was to strike into Microsoft’s traditional heartland where it has been dominant for so many years. Since then, Google has made more acquisitions to strengthen its productivity suite and has labelled it Google Docs.

The term ‘Cloud Computing’ encompasses more than software as a service but has extended to software distribution, enterprise storage and a mix of technologies. For example storage specialist box.net, cofounded by two twenty something entrepreneurs and backed by venture capital funding, have identified a market for online storage. It has continued to add value by integrating services from with Zoho, EditGrid, and Picnik to allow its customers to edit documents and images online. However, the most prominent partnership to date has been with Dell that has offered its customers a free 2 GB box.net account when they purchase an Inspiron Mini notebook. It is further evidence of box.net’s success and recognition as they expand into the retail and enterprise space.

So how will this affect traditional hosting service providers offering basic services? Similar to all IT fields, change and consolidation have happen and will continue to do so. General consensus is that more compelling value adding services and applications is required to expand into new markets or face the possibility of being left behind. However, the switch from internal systems to online still has opposition, particularly, with data of sensitive or confidential nature. How would management feel about storing employee records on systems that are available from anywhere on the web?

Richard Stallman, founder of the Free Software Foundation, recent comments to the Guardian reflected this view. "One reason you should not use web applications to do your computing is that you lose control," Stallman said. "It's just as bad as using a proprietary program. Do your own computing on your own computer with your copy of a freedom-respecting program."