History of Cloud Computing

Indeed the cloud is not as new as it seems. The cloud symbol that permeates virtually all cloud computing literature is more than 50 years old, as indeed are the concepts that were recognised as early as the 1950s in the work done by AT&T in the area of telephone networking. At that time, AT&T had already begun to develop an architecture and system where data would be located centrally and accessed by business through redesigned telephones and updated telephone network. While the service did not materialise the concepts and advantages were understood and relentlessly pursued through to this day.

The pursuit of centralised, abstracted IT services progressed over the decades with the advent and adoption of technologies such as Internet Service Providers (ISP – where servers were located at the Internet access point) and Application Service/Infrastructure Providers (ASP – where infrastructure was rented to a customer at an offsite location, but used most of the time by the one, paying customer). Other IT services historically offered include Time Sharing Systems, Co-Location, Hosting, and Outsourcing.

As with any evolution, the step from ASP to cloud computing is subtle yet disruptively important. While ASPs managed to offsite infrastructure for a customer, they were bound to the concept that the infrastructure capacity was predetermined and inflexible; ASP customers were required to declare the quantity of compute and storage capacity needed upfront. If the customer’s computing needs grew or contracted the hardware had to be scaled up or down with an associated delay and up-front investment.

One of the main principles of cloud computing, from Software-as-a-Service to Storage on demand, is that the computing capacity varies immediately and transparently with the customer’s need, and clients no longer need plan, configure, and use fixed quantities of computing equipment, reducing associated costs, lead-times, and financial risks.