It was only two or three years ago that the technical press was flooded with articles asking "Is Cloud Computing over?"
and "Is the Cloud just hype?" These questions seem ridiculous in hindsight. The impact of new technologies is frequently overstated, but I think we can all agree that cloud computing is having a big impact on IT, and is here to stay.
A cloudy sky in the Lassen National Forest, California
Over the next few days and weeks, you'll see a series of events and papers on this site describing how cloud computing supports mobile apps. You'll hear about the origins of cloud computing, and learn something of its future directions (floating data centers powered by wave action, anyone?)
The first to appear in this series of cloud/mobile collateral is an article in the MOTODEV Technical Library. The "Introduction to Cloud and Mobile" article lays out the hardware and software that makes up a cloud. The article goes on to relate the significance of cloud services for mobile app developers. There's a complementary white paper coming later that goes into more detail, covering Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) and web services.
If you haven't yet included Software as a Service (SaaS) in your mobile app designs, MOTODEV's cloud articles and events form a great way to catch up with the latest in IT best practices.
Peter van der Linden
Android Technology Evangelist
