IBM, Yahoo!, and Google are all putting the power of cloud computing to work. Here's a short primer on how the new technology worksResearchers seeking smarter ways to tackle the most complicated computing tasks think they've found the answer in a cloud—though not the kind that wafts across the sky as masses of condensed water droplets and frozen crystals. Instead, they're turning to something called cloud computing, which aims to deliver supercomputing power over the Internet.
IBM (IBM) is the most recent company to announce plans to tap cloud computing technologies. On Nov. 15, IBM executives in Shanghai unveiled a system, dubbed Blue Cloud, that will let banks and other customers distribute their programs across large numbers of machines to deliver faster, more sophisticated data analysis. The first Blue Cloud products are due in the spring of 2008.
Supercomputing for the Rest of Us
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