2.  Cloud computing is one of the more recent technologies that many businesses, individuals and other industry organizations believe to by one of the keys to the future of information technology. Cloud computing

3. $150 Billion: The size of the cloud computing market by 2013. $750 Million: The amount that Amazon.com AWS expects to earn in 2011. 7/10: Companies using cloud services that will move new applications to the cloud. 54%: Amount of respondents citing Security as their top concern for transition to the cloud. 60%: Server workloads that will be virtualized by 2014. (Ingthorsson, 2011)

4. Google shows the increase of website searches on the topic of cloud computing.

5.  The user is able to access files, data, programs and 3 rd party services on the Internet hosted by a 3 rd party provider (Hudson 2008)  Cloud computing means one can purchase or rent complex corporate software and then access and manipulate this software on a relative simple mobile device. (Armburst, et.al,2012)

6.  Massive resources at its disposal and supports several users simultaneously  Supports on-demand scalability of users’ computational needs  Offers ubiquitous access; stored data and applications are accessible by authorized users anywhere at anytime

7.  Facilitates data sharing, enterprisewide data analysis, and collaboration  Are generally self-healing and can self-reconfigure providing continuous availability in case of failure of its computing resources  Offers enhanced user experience via a simplified Web browser user interface

8.  Transition from computing-as-a-product toward computing- as-a-service.  Transition from buying hardware and software as products that we install, to using applications and computing infrastructure in the cloud as a service paying on the go.

9.  You aren't tied to a particular computer or a specific private network to run or access your applications and data.  Easier for group members in different locations to collaborate

10.  Web-based application offered via cloud computing is called a cloud service. Web-based application  Cloud services range from simple applications such as e- mail, calendars, word processing, and photo sharing  Complex enterprise applications and computing resources offered as services by major providers

11.  End-user applications are hosted by a cloud vendor and delivered as a service.  "on-demand" billing system or free  eliminates the need to locally install and run the application on the user's computer,  The software license is not owned by the user.

12.  Google Apps  Salesforce.com CRM  Quicken Online Accounting  NetSuite’s Business Software Suite

13.  Application development platforms and middleware systems are hosted by a vendor and offered to application developers  The platform provides most of the tools and facilities required for building and delivering applications  Examples o Google App Engine o Microsoft Azure o Amazon.com’s Web Services

14.  Servers, CPU, storage, network equipment, and data center facilities, are delivered as a service on demand  The service is billed according to the resources consumed.  Examples of IasS o Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), o GoGrid GoGrid o FlexiScale

15.  Google o Gmail - communication service o Calendar- time-management system o Groups - collaboration/discussion o Docs - word processing/spreadsheet application  Dropbox - file sharing system  Basecamp - web project management system  Highrise - shared contact system (CRM)  Backpack - personal information manager and intranet  Campfire - business online chat service  Evernote - web note taking service  Xero - online accounting service

16.  Advantages Advantages o Easy to use o Low cost or no cost o Automatic software updates o Improved PC performance o Universal document access o Unlimited storage capabilities o Collaboration abilities  Disadvantages o Security o Slow internet connection o Lack of understanding as to what the cloud actually is.

17.  51% believe stormy weather would interfere with their cloud computing  54% claim to never use the cloud  17% have pretended to know what the cloud was during a first date  95% of those who think they’re not using the cloud, actually are Survey commissioned on behalf of the Centrix Organization (McKendrick2012)