A Different Definition for Cloud Computing Emerges

I have posted a number of previous notes about cloud computing (see: Finally, A Clear Definition for Cloud; Computing; The Webtop as a Computing Tool for the Cybernomad Tribe).The term has been used in the past to refer to a network of servers in scattered locations that can function as a single virtual system with the ability to ingest content from anywhere and move content to popular places depending on traffic and interest. The obvious appeal of such an architecture is that one can take advantage of the unused capacity of these widely distributed servers at commodity pricing and also that this approach provides flexibility in the face of unanticipated demand for additional computing capacity.

Assuming that a general consensus had been arrived at for cloud computing, I was therefore mildly surprised to read an article in the New York Times (see: A New Battle Is Beginning in Branding for the Web) that defined the term in the following new way:

Cloud computing usually refers to Internet services or software that the user accesses through a Web browser on a personal computer, cellphone or other device. The digital service is delivered remotely, from somewhere off in the computing cloud, in the fashion of Google’s Internet search service. Dell has tried to trademark the term cloud computing itself. But in August, the United States Patent and Trademark Office sent a strong signal that cloud computing cannot be trademarked.

On reflection, this shift in the definition for cloud computing as a set of "Internet services or software" accessible with a web browser on a PC or cellphone makes sense in light of today's wild popularity of the web. The average person has little knowledge of the architecture of the Internet and regards the web as a set of multi-media services analogous to a public utility. In the case of an electric utility, this hypothetical person has little concern for where the electric generators are located or how they operate. He only cares whether the electric power provided is available and reliable.

I have suggested that hospitals EMRs and LISs should be supported via this amorphous computer cloud as some PACS services are today (see: The Potential for "Serverless" Healthcare Computing; A Closer Look at the Vertical Cloud in Healthcare Computing). Many objections have been raised by HIT personnel against "serverless healthcare computing" such as the potential for security and confidentiality risks and, of course, the possibility of service disruptions and slow response time. I suspect that many of these objections will fade away as the technical aspects of cloud computing become more vague and we increasingly view access to a network of servers, regardless of their location, as a reliable service like that provided by the national electric power grid.