Yesterday I attended an event on “The future of web services” by Amazon’s web services evangelist.  I regularly attend similar seminars, as with the extremely rapid and often unpredictable developments in internet technology, such “techi” presentations are always exciting, thought-provoking events. 

Then came yesterday, when I sat through 80 minutes of a straightforward sales presentation on Amazon’s existing cloud-services, instead of an exciting and thought-provoking “techi” outlook into the future.  All I got out of the seminar is a good definition for cloud-computing with a list of benefits for large enterprises, which I copy my notes below….  And no mistakes; individual users were not the focus!  I am curious to hear your views on Amazon’s plans and cloud computing….

What is cloud computing?

An internet based service that enables people to run web-services and manage databases more efficiently without being tied to physical limits.  It’s key features are scalability, on-demand access and pay-per-use.

Advantages of cloud-computing for enterprises:

- Flexibility

- Faster time to market

- More efficient use of resources  when IT is not core business

- Cost-reduction (pay-per-use)

What can slows down the uptake of cloud computing?

- Legacy software

- Considerations for existing IT investments

- Human friction

- Perceived lack of security

- Internal procedures and leagl issues