Michael Morris, Senior Associate
What is 'the cloud'?
'Cloud computing' is one of the current buzz phrases of
the IT industry and the cost savings it promises is drawing
increasing attention from IT managers in the current economic
climate. Cloud computing is still a relatively new concept and
precisely what it constitutes is the subject of some debate,
ranging from the provision of virtual servers over the internet
(such as 'utility computing'), to a broader definition
encompassing the myriad of IT services which can be provided from
outside an organisation's infrastructure (much like
conventional outsourcing)1.
For the purposes of analysing in brief the potential risks and
benefits of outsourcing to 'the cloud', we can define it as
the process of consuming, on demand and for a fee, IT services
utilising hardware, software and services provided over the
internet, without the need for acquiring the relevant hardware or
licenses for software. Examples include the
