GigaOM Pro

Data centers -- and the servers they contain -- are evolving to meet the new needs of cloud-storing enterprises and consumers.

Consumers and businesses are grabbing their movies, business software and computing when they want it, and storing it "in the cloud" when they don't. Thanks to wireless networks and an increasing number of broadband-connected appliances, this means content can be accessed anywhere there's a connection and a screen. That has led to large changes in the market for computers and cell phones, as well as in the devices themselves. However, just because data is no longer stored on a PC's hard drive or a wall of DVDs, that doesn't mean that it's not stored somewhere.