Cloud computing economics opportunities and challenges

The high speed internet infrastructure, quest for IT resource optimization and escalating operation and maintenance cost of keeping digital resources up are leading to a cost effective and technologically efficient business solution with computing resources available on demand and consumption pattern on pay per use basis. The flexibility of scaling up or down the IT resource pool for dynamic services and reduced CAPEX & OPEX for IT industry makes it a viable solution. This is the phenomenon in which computing resources are treated as a utility. The concept is not totally new but the evolution of ICT with reliable broadband infrastructure has made it pragmatic now. This paper discusses the concept of Cloud Computing, proposed cloud models and services options, economic opportunities and challenges.