Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/4636
ILTA White Paper Infrastructure Technologies 26 V iews on cloud computing have shifted considerably. Initially, there was a lot of skepticism that cloud computing was nothing more than hype or spin created to extract more budget spend out of wary IT staff. During a September 2008 analyst meeting, when Oracle founder and CEO Larry Ellison was asked a question about his view on clouds, he responded, "Maybe I'm an idiot, but I have no idea what anyone is talking about. What is it? It's complete gibberish." Fast forward a year, and Oracle now has a cloud strategy and an alliance with Amazon Web Services to offer cloud computing products and services. Computing has evolved now to the point where it does not make economic sense for some firms to own and manage servers and infrastructure. A good analogy would be the expectation, when electrical systems were first invented, that people would maintain their own private generators. When Thomas Edison's Pearl Street Power station opened in 1882, it used direct current to power part of lower Manhattan because the electricity couldn't travel more than a square mile away. If people wanted power they'd have to be close to a plant or generate their own. The turning point came with the development of alternating current power systems, which allowed George Westinghouse to open a power marK hadfield legalcloud The Future Is Bright in the Cloud