A Complete History of Cloud Computing

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By 2020 the cloud computing market is forecast to exceed $241 billion - but how did we get here? here did it all start?
Though the actual history of cloud computing is not that old (the first business and consumer cloud computing services websites salesforce com and !oogle" were launched in #$$$%" its story is tied directly to the development of the &nternet and business technology" since cloud computing is the solution to the problem of how the &nternet can help improve business technology 'usiness technology has a long and fascinating history" one that is almost as long as business itself" but the developments that most directly influenced the history of cloud computing start with the emergence of computers as providers of real business solutions

The internets "infancy"

here business technology first became feasible and dreams of a global network where theories could be debated?!
Though computers had been around for some time" the state of the technology and the culture of the #$()s created the perfect environment for innovation to be made *uickly Computers were basically large calculators that used punch cards to work on calculations" so although they were useful" improvements could clearly be made The cultural environment was shaped by Cold +ar fascination with the utopia that could be created using technology" as well as newfound prosperity to pay for it These two factors meant people were both willing and able to invest in advancements The first practical microchip was developed in the late #$()s" and once computers could do more comple, calculations" people started developing programs for business applications The first routine office computer -ob is done in #$(# by the ./0 computer" which was designed to deal with the overnight production re*uirements" payroll" inventory and other administrative tasks for 1 .yons 2

Co " a catering and food manufacturing company This could be considered the first integrated management information system 3id 4ou 5now 6un 6act7 The first practical microchip was developed in the late #$()s" and once computers could do more comple, calculations" people started developing programs for business applications 8lmost as soon as computers were demonstrating their usefulness in business" companies started thinking about how to serve smaller businesses &n #$($" &'9 introduced the #4)# model " which gave smaller businesses access to data processing computers The #4)# was so popular that by the mid:;)s" almost half of the world<s computer systems were #4)#:type systems The ;)s saw the world thinking internationally : and concept of delivering computing services internationally came into its own &n #$;4" 3ouglas /ngelbart and his colleagues invented a graphical user interface the used both windows and a mouse" which would be invaluable several decades later as the personal computer and the &nternet became commonplace 1 C = .icklider might be the biggest contributor to the history of cloud computing in this era >e spent the #$;)s developing 8=?8@/T the forerunner to &nternet >e also suggested there could be an Aintergalactic computer networkB in #$;$" clearly anticipating the global domination of the &nternet and" in a way" cloud computing >e was not the only person to have that idea" though 'efore him" 1ohn 9cCarthy introduced the idea of Acomputation being delivered as a public utilityB back in #$;# These visions of a global network and a utilities:based business model are" of course" two of the driving principles behind cloud computing and &nternet access in general

The internets "childhood"

here it became clear that "#$"%&' was a pretty big deal and some big computer companies were founded
&n the #$C)s" the concepts and elements that were suggested in the ()s and ;)s were being developed in earnest 8dditionally" many of the world<s biggest computer companies were founded" and the internet was born &n #$C#" &ntel" founded in the previous decade" introduced the world to the first microprocessor" and &ntel engineer =ay Tomlinson wrote a program that allowed users to send messages from one computer to another" subse*uently sending the very first message that most people would recognise as email 3id 4ou 5now 6un 6act7 &n #$C# &ntel engineer =ay Tomlinson wrote a program that allowed users to send messages from one computer to another" subse*uently sending the very first message that most people would recognise as email 9eanwhile" 'ill !ates and ?aul 8llen founded 9icrosoft in #$C4" while Steve +oDniak and Steve 1obs founded 8pple Computers in #$C; and introduced the 8pple && in the same year 8ll the while" the ES 3epartment of 3efence had been developing 8=?8@/T into &nternet" and in #$C;" Fero,<s =obert 9etcalfe presented the concept of the /thernet

.ater in the decade" CompuServe &nformation Services and The Source both went online in #$C$" foreshadowing the point when the internet would be hosted by and accessed through commercial service providers The G)s ushered in the first ma-or" worldwide boom in computers 'y #$G)" there were more than ( million computers in use worldwide" but generally these were built for business or government use So in #$G#" &'9 put the first personal computer on the market" and in #$G2" 9icrosoft began licensing 9S:30S" the operating system that" because of large:scale marketing efforts by 9icrosoft" most personal computers would run on Then" instead of a global dystopia" #$G4 brought the first 9acintosh computer" the founding of 3ell computer by 9ichael 3ell and +illiam !ibson<s coining of the term Hcyberspace< The seeds were being sown for the rise of the internet

The internets international debut

here the (nternet as a place for both commerce and communication came into its own)
The #$$)s connected the world in an unprecedented way" starting with C/=@<s release of the +orld +ide +eb for general (that is" non:commercial% use in #$$# &n #$$I" a browser called 9osaic allowed graphics to be shown on &nternet" and private companies were allowed to use &nternet for the first time" too 3id 4ou 5now 6un 6act7 @etscape was founded in #$$4" with internet traffic handed over to commercial enterprises like @etscape in #$$(" with 8maDon 2 /bay founded in the same year 0nce companies were online" they began to think of the commercial possibilities that came with being able to reach the world in an instant" and some of the biggest players online were founded 9arc 8ndreessen and 1im Clark founded @etscape in #$$4" and none too soon" since #$$( saw internet traffic handed over to commercial enterprises like @etscape 8t the same time" stalwarts of the internet 8maDon com and e'ay were founded by 1eff 'eDos and ?ierre 0midyan" respectively

The internets "adulthood" and cloud computings rise

here the dot-com bubble bursts like a pimple and cloud computing comes to the fore
The end of the $)s and beginning of the 2)))s were a great time to find or invest in an internet: based company Cloud computing had the right environment to take off" as multi:tenant architectures" highly prevalent high:speed bandwidth and universal software interoperability standards were developed in this time Salesforce com debuted in #$$$ and was the first site to deliver business applications from a Hnormal< website what is now called cloud computing The unadulterated optimism of this time led to the dot:com boom" where internet:based companies" backed by seemingly endless venture capital and overly confident pro-ections" grew rapidly 9any of these companies hoped they could run at a loss for a while" then charge for services later" which meant they were running on investment capital and earning no income at all 8maDon and !oogle both failed to operate at a profit in their first years" though this was because they were spending money on marketing efforts or improving their technology The dot:com bubble hit its peak on #)th 9arch 2)))" and then burst over the following weekend as ma-or high:tech stockholders like 3ell and Cisco sold off a lot of their stock Several things could have contributed to the collapse of the bubble" including the anti:monopoly ruling against 9icrosoft (which" although not revealed until the beginning of 8pril" had been widely anticipated% 0ther reasons include poor online takings from the #$$$ Christmas season and 425 though not in the world:ending way many people predicted &nstead" businesses spent a lot of money updating systems and e*uipment" so when the day passed without event" businesses stopped spending money to cover the e,pense of updating so much This meant that they stopped trading" put on hiring freeDes and generally found ways to stop spending money @onetheless" research shows that ()J of dot:coms survived until 2))4" so instead of being driven out of business by the bursting of the bubble" businesses either thrived or were simply not viable Still" to continue to survive" businesses had to rethink or refine their business models and what they offered to customers 9any newer companies decided to offer services that saw the internet as a crucial part of the service" rather than as a medium to place orders or communicate with customers 8maDon com introduced 8maDon +eb Services in 2))2 This gave users the ability to store data and put a gigantic number of humans to work on very small tasks (such as 9echanical Turk%" amongst other services 6acebook was founded in 2))4" revolutionising the way users communicate and the way they store their own data (their photos and video%" inadvertently making the cloud a personal service &n 2));" 8maDon e,panded its cloud services 6irst was its /lastic Compute cloud (/C2%" which allowed people to access computers and run their own applications on them" all on the cloud Then they brought out Simple Storage Service (SI% This introduced the pay:as:you:go model to both users and the industry as a whole" and it has basically become standard practice now

Salesforce com then launched force com in 2))C This platform as a service (?aaS% let companies< developers build" store and run all of the apps and websites they needed to run their business in the cloud !oogle 8pps launched in 2))$" allowing people to create and store documents entirely in the cloud 9ost recently" cloud computing companies have been thinking about how they can make their products even more integrated &n 2)#) Salesforce com introduced the cloud:based database at 3atabase com for developers" marking the development of could computing services that can be used on any device" run on any platform and written in any programming language 3id 4ou 5now 6un 6act7 &tKs predicted that ES tablet sales will reach 44 million in 2)#( eclipsing laptop sales 0f course" the future of the internet and cloud computing have in the past proved hard to predict" but so long as companies strive to connect the world and serve that connected world in new ways" there will always be a need for both the internet and cloud computing 3onKt forget to read up on the benefits of cloud computing and #) great cloud applications and services for S9/Ks

A Brief History of the Cloud

by ST86 6 on OCTOBER 5, 2011 ) C0 99/ @ TS

&n a very real sense" the idea of cloud storage is as old as the &nternet itself" which" in terms of the web we know and love today" began in the <;)s as 8=?8@/T 8=?8@/T was used primarily by universities and research labs as a means of communication and" broadly" getting information from one computer to another &n that very basic idea of accessing material from a remote device" however primitive it was in the beginning" is the basic essence of what we do now with remote backup or cloud storage 8fter all" the website you<re viewing now is stored elsewhere" but you can *uite easily access its files and data from whatever computer you<re at currently 9any websites today are even more formally stored in Athe cloudB L a collection of virtual and" thus" elastic servers or data storage bins L and not the dedicated server spaces you<d typically lease out via a web hosting company

Esing the &nternet as a practical means of storing material remotely at the consumer level L such as @orton 'ack Ep L was" however" a fairly long time coming This is due primarily to slow transfer speeds &n the <G)s" you could spend well over an hour transferring a mere # 9' of data" or about a medium:siDe novel or several seconds of high: fidelity audio That<s hardly practical for a regular homeMwork ?C backup 8t the time a lot of backups were accomplished with tape:based systems" which allowed more data compression than a hard drive and long:term stability Tape backup still e,ists and is remains an advancing technologically" though not so much for personal use !enerally" however" it was replaced by improving hard drives" floppy disks" and Nip 3isks =emember thoseO 'y 2)))" you could put G 9' of data on a flash drive basically in an instant &n a lot of senses" those flashMthumb drives were predessors to cloud storage" particularly in respect to portability and sharing +ith a little stick on your keychain" you could copy a bunch of files from your work computer to your home computer to wherever" and back again 0r give it to a friend or colleague @orton 0nline 'ackup lets you do the same thing" minus the stick and with a simple E=. & should note here that current upload speeds are more in line with 2) 9' per second" compared with that single creeping 9' from the <G)s 8s speeds increased" a lot of things starting happening almost at once 2))2 brought 8maDon +eb Services" which provided some cloud storage &n 2))4" both 6acebook and 6lickr launched" providing platforms to store tons of user data for free &n that same year" the very first video was uploaded to 4ouTube" A9e 8t the Noo B Things got even more e,citing when !oogleHs suite of applications" !oogle 3ocs" hit in 2))C Suddenly" you could create a document in a web:based application and it would store automatically to the cloud Three years later" the

company announced that users would be able to store anything in its cloud" even documents and files not created within the application suite Today" you can even access !oogle 3ocs offline with a new >T9( application Storage has become so cheap and bandwidth so plentiful that cloud storage services are e,ploding Soon" you won<t think twice about accessing all of your music and pictures in the cloud and the idea of keeping that stuff on your hard: drive will seem silly" -ust as silly as the idea of dumping your stuff onto a cassette tape might seem today

such a good point

.eave a =eply