I Wandered Lonely Into A Cloud

1. Introduction

In traditional computing infrastructure, a computer's operating system (e.g. Microsoft Windows), applications (e.g. Microsoft Office) and data are stored on an individual user's computer. In the office environment data is usually stored on servers (often within the same building) which are then accessible by the rest of an organisation.

Cloud-computing is a different approach to IT infrastructure. Information, software or other IT services are stored and accessed remotely via a supplier's servers connected to the internet, rather than on individual computers or on private servers. This is not a new concept. Anyone who has a web-based email account such as Hotmail has been able to use a simple form of cloud-computing since 1997.