A field guide to cloud computing: current trends, future opportunities

Summary:

Cloud computing has grown from a pie-in-the-sky vision to a major IT movement over the past few years. As its promise has grown, though, so too has its scope. This report covers six key sectors in cloud computing: commodity Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), enterprise IaaS, Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), cloud storage and private clouds. We highlight the current state of each and provide informed insights into where they — and cloud computing in general — are headed. Much like any market in a still-evolving state, the infrastructure of the cloud-computing transition is still being built by startups, practitioners and even a big-name company or two. Companies mentioned in this report include VMware, Amazon, Nasuni, Terremark and Heroku. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial.

  1. Table of Contents
  2. About Derrick Harris
  3. About GigaOM Pro
  4. Summary
  5. Introduction
  6. Commodity Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)
    1. Looking forward
  7. Enterprise IaaS
    1. Looking forward
  8. Platform-as-a-Service
    1. Looking forward
  9. Software-as-a-Service
    1. Looking forward
  10. Cloud Storage
    1. Looking forward
  11. Private cloud
    1. Looking forward
  12. Predictions and analysis for the next year
    1. New architectures and best practices
    2. Network virtualization
    3. 10 cloud predictions for the next year
  13. Further Reading