GigaOM Pro

The cloud is more than just servers and data centers — with new management layers, connected devices from set-top boxes to browsers are providing critical compute power for the cloud.

Every so often, computing architecture swings from centralized to distributed and then back again. It started with centralized mainframes, which gave way to distributed client/server systems, which in turn were displaced by centralized SaaS models and cloud computing. History has shown us that not much can stop this slow tectonic oscillation between central and distributed, not even the cloud, which is slowly dissipating across the Internet and its connected devices.