Cloud Computing in the Future

You already work in the cloud, too, if you use a smartphone, tablet or web browser. And you’re using the cloud if you’re tapping online services like Dropbox or Apple’s iCloud. Cloud computing, an airy term for real systems of cleverly networked computers, powers thousands of mobile games, workplace software programs and advanced research projects. These services harness global networks of millions of computers, renting and using huge amounts of computing power. An inside look at how technology is remaking an industry, lowering costs for some and handing even more influence to a handful of powerful companies. For the half-century that computers have been part of the workplace, companies have bought their own machines for corporate data centers. But that may be about to change. Industry analysts at IDC figure that if largely cloud-based things like mobile apps, big data, and social media are counted, over the next six years almost 90 percent of new spending on Internet and communications technologies, a $5 trillion global business, will be on cloud-based technology.