Cloud computing’s ‘utility’ model faces a surprising challenge

Grazed from NetworkWorld. Author: Frederic Paul.

For years now, advocates have been claiming that cloud computing would follow the path of power utilities, with the vast majority of customers choosing to buy the computing resources they need from some central utility rather than generate it themselves. It has become an article of faith that due to economies of scale, this utility model would always deliver better service for less money than trying to go it alone.

That may still be true for cloud computing, but an article in today’s Wall Street Journal suggests that the analogy is no longer a slam dunk. It’s not because of some fundamental difference in cloud computing, but because as "more companies across the country are producing their own power," the electric utilities may no longer be a model that cloud computing wants to emulate…

New Dangers, New Alternatives

In the article, titled "Companies Unplug From the Electric Grid, Delivering a Jolt to Utilities," reporters Rebecca Smith and Cassandra Sweet explain the trend this way:…

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