History of Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is relatively new term that gets tossed around these days but the idea has been around for more than 50 years. The idea first came about in the 60’s when J.C.R. Licklider came up with “intergalactic computing”. He thought one day everyone could be connected and could access data and programs from any site. Another forward thinker, John McCarthy thought of cloud computing as a public utility. Sounds like an early idea of SaaS. Cloud computing didn’t take off back then because of the lack of computing power available at the time. Fast forward to the late 90’s when the internet is starting to pick up steam. Salesforce.com was one of the first companies to deliver enterprise application through a web-site. In the early 2000’s Amazon started offering services and applications over the web. Finally, in 2009, Google introduced Google Apps, something I’m sure we all use today. In 2009 revenues for cloud computing was 58.6 billion and in 2 years grew to top 2.6 trillion in revenues.



Most everyone has cloud computing experience. Cloud computing is any application you run that is not stored on your own hard drive. We mostly do this through the Internet. If you have used e-mail you have used cloud computing. Your email client is not stored on your machine. You log onto it through the web then have all of its tools to your disposal.