A Few Examples of Cloud Computing

The cloud computing craze was first widely introduced to the public in the form a free email service: Gmail. Provided by Google, it gave its users an unprecedented amount of storage space to store their emails in. Not too long after, Google had provided another cloud based service, known as Google Docs, which also allowed users to store documents, spreadsheets, and presentations into its servers (Upson, 2011, p. 44). Soon, many other well-known companies followed suit, providing cloud based services that almost everyone is familiar with today.

According to Jeff Rothschild, Facebook’s VP of Technology, Facebook employs an upwards of 30,000 servers to store massive amounts of pictures, videos, and status updates from its millions of users (O'Neill, 2009).

Netflix uses Amazon web servers to offer on-demand movie streaming to hundreds of thousands of its subscribers, requiring only a computer or a Netflix capable device connected to the internet.

Here are the top 10 cloud services of 2010 according to ReadWriteWeb:
http://www.readwriteweb.com/cloud/2010/12/top-10-cloud-computing-services-for-2010.php