reviews Xythos

Links to Software as a Service online doc management  collaboration services:

• SharePoint
• Intel with their coming SuiteTwo amalgamation - Intel has cancelled this project
• O3Spaces with their open source challenge to SharePoint,
• Blogtronix with their updated Enterprise 2.0 collaboration offering,
• BaseCamp
• Adobe are shifting their Acrobat product

“What Cloud Computing Really Means”
by Eric Knorr, Galen Gruman,
InfoWorld.com

This article provides an effective explanation of ‘cloud computing’ for both techy and other individuals who are not at all familiar with the concept.  “Some analysts and vendors define cloud computing narrowly as an updated version of utility computing:  basically virtual servers available over the internet.  Others go very broad, arguing anything you consume outside the firewall is ‘in the cloud,’ including conventional outsourcing.” [pg. 1]  To understand the how broad the phenomenon of cloud computing spreads, the authors have broken it down in several categories including:

SaaS:  SaaS is an acronym for “software as a service.”   This refers to software that is provided to a user over the internet and used within a web browser rather than launching the software from the hard drive of the personal computer being used to operate that software.  Examples of this type of cloud computing include Salesforce.com and Google Apps.

Utility Computing:  The most traditional form of cloud computing which simply means using the internet to store data on remote servers hosted by third parties rather than lodging your data on your personal computer(s) or server(s).  Utility computing is commonly described as virtual servers that can be accessed on demand.  The companies that pioneer this area include IBM, Sun, and Amazon.com.  
Web Services (in the cloud):  This type of cloud computing is closely related to Seas, “web service providers offer APIs that enable developers to exploit functionality over the Internet, rather than delivering full-blown applications. “ [pg. 2] These services range from conventional credit card processing to Bloomberg.  

MSP:  Managed service providers (MSPs) are among the old members of the modern day cloud computing family.  These are essentially applications that are exposed to IT rather than to the end users of personal computers.   A virus scanning service for email that is contracted by an internet service provider for its clients is an example of an MSP.

Based on the description and variations of cloud computing described in this article we may be left wondering what do we actually do over the internet that is not in some way considered cloud computing.  If websites and web-based services do not actually fit into one of the known sub-categories of cloud computing it seems as if they will in the near future.