Phil Wainewright writes:
Instead of thinking in terms of monolithic computing services, think of choosing among an almost limitless universe of service options. Connecting to the wall socket will open up access to a global market, in which every resource can find its most efficient level. For some resources desktop productivity software for example mass distribution of retail packages will remain the most cost-effective model. For others a really obvious example is web content search a single, centralized resource will provide unbeatable economies of scale. Much more significantly, there will be innumerable examples where small, specialist shared resources will find a market for example, online information providers who focus on emerging tech industry sectors.
The utility element of utility computing, then, is the provision of the infrastructure that enables this resource-sharing…Utility computing will never be about the provision of applications out of a wall socket. The utility providers will operate the infrastructure. But the applications will sit on top. Rather than being a component of the infrastructure, they will be delivered across it by independent providers.
