(5) Five companies that offer Cloud Computing Apps/Services,

1.) Amazon
The online retailer came out of nowhere in 2006 to offer up idle compute cycles as a service. Since then, it seems like there’s no
market Amazon is unwilling to enter and no competitor it’s unwilling to take on. There’s the market setting Elastic Compute Cloud
(EC2). If you’re a third-party provider of cloud services, that’s the platform you need to be compatible with. Amazon expects that
cloud computing will be the de facto model for enterprise workloads in the future, as the firm recently revealed that it has seen a
huge spike in adoption of its Amazon Web Services (AWS) over the past 12 to 18 months.

“We think that in the fullness of time, the vast majority of workloads will be run in a cloud-based environment similar to ours. We
think that if we do our job correctly and execute the value proposition from a cost perspective, the feature set we can deliver will be
so compelling that this model will be the de facto deployment model for the vast majority of applications,” AWS’s director of
business development, Terrence Wise.

Over time, Amazon has added multiple cloud storage offerings and is moving into the PaaS market. The company is also selling
tablets (Kindle Fire) and challenging Apple and Google in the cloud-based music arena. As one of the pioneers of what is now
termed cloud computing, AWS is already one of the largest and most prominent providers of infrastructure-as-a-service, but has
noticed a quickening of adoption over the last year or two.

2.) Google
Google is not a traditional IT vendor., Google is part of the new generation of Web-first companies. And like Amazon, Google isn’t
afraid to burst into new markets with offerings like Android, the Chrome browser and a ChromeOS-based tablet. But on a
fundamental level, Google’s “all apps in the cloud” philosophy, based on Gmail, Google Docs and Google Spreadsheets, is a direct
challenge to Microsoft’s desktop domination. As if that weren’t enough, Google is also a player in the PaaS market with the Google
App Engine.

“At Google, our apps are built from the ground up for the Web. They’re fundamentally tailored for that
experience. They’ll work awesome on your mobile phone or browser. They’re fast. They’re what you expect
from having used Google Search. That allows us to innovate much more rapidly” Ken Norton, Google
Appsproduct development leader.

Google’s key features, Gmail, Google Docs, AdWords, Maps and Picasa can all be accessed easily using one email I.D. This makes
the entire operation easier and also highly affordable. If one had to get some software coded to meet all these purposes, it would
have cost millions of dollars. Moreover, the time spent on developing the same and maintaining it would also be substantial.
 3.) Microsoft
Microsoft may be a little late to the party, but never underestimate the company’s ability to get it right eventually. The pieces
certainly aren’t all there today, but experts say Microsoft has probably the most ambitious approach to cloud computing. Consider
these assets: state-of-the-art data centers, the Hyper-V virtualization product, a PaaS offering (Windows Azure), an IaaS offering
(Windows Azure Fabric Controller) a SaaS offering (SharePoint Online, Office 365, CRM Online), a search engine (Bing), a browser
(IE), and a pre-existing development platform (.NET). With 90% of the world on Outlook/Windows/Office, Microsoft, if it executes,
has the potential to use it vast gravitational field to slowly pull customers into its cloud.

“The cloud presents a substantial set of opportunities, choices and cost-savings scenarios for businesses looking to improve their
capabilities and productivity. What I typically hear from customers is that their IT departments are not making cut-and-dried
decisions to ‘move to the cloud,’ but rather they look at their aging infrastructure and know they need to upgrade. They need to
implement a new set of tools and capabilities to keep up with and serve their users, and the best path for this upgrade is unique to
each customer. This is where the power of cloud computing comes into play. It can provide flexibility and choice to IT organisations.”
Satya Nadella, president of Microsoft’s Server and Tools Business

The latest update to Windows Azure and its move from a PaaS play to an Iaas and PaaS offering is another facet of Microsoft’s
increasing support for the cloud. Azure now permits users to run persistent virtual machines of both Windows and Linux, as well as
develop virtual private networks that extend from on-premise into the cloud. Obviously, Microsoft is attempting to take on Amazon
Web Services here, which has a very strong presence in the IaaS market.

4.) VMware
VMware has gone from being a one-product company (albeit a product that changed the world of enterprise computing) to a vendor
with a highly ambitious cloud strategy based on its flagship vSphere virtualisation technology. VMware has made a number of key
acquisitions and is now a formidable player in the PaaS market, with a variety of offerings, including vFabric and CloudFoundry, an
open PaaS platform housed at www.CloudFoundry.org where developers can contribute to collaborative open source projects. Also,
there’s a hosted PaaS platform operated by VMware at www.CloudFoundry.com. In addition, VMware is forging alliances with key
players such as Google, Salesforceand Cisco.

5.) Salesforce
Salesforce.com is the undisputed leader in software-as-a-service, but the company has sketched out an ambitious cloud strategy
that includes both SaaS and PaaS. The company’s cloud portfolio includes Force.com for custom app development, Heroku, for
social and mobile apps, Database.com, Salesforce Data.com, Salesforce Chatter, Salesforce Sales Cloud, and Salesforce Service
Cloud. CEO Marc Benioff recently boasted that “Salesforce.com is the first enterprise cloud computing company to exceed a $2.3
billion annual revenue run rate. And, we’re excited to announce that we expect to reach a $3 billion annual revenue run rate during
our fiscal year 2013.”