IBM Sees a Break in Cloud Technology

Last year, Cisco spent $3.2 billion to acquire Web collaboration specialist WebEx, and Google has thrown its weight behind Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) with its Google Apps offering. Software giant Microsoft (MSFT Quote) is also getting in on the cloud services act, and will reportedly launch a cloud-based version of Windows at its Professional Developers' Conference later this month.

With the growing popularity of technologies such as Facebook and LinkedIn, and an increasingly tight spending climate, more users are turning to the Web as a way to build business networks and share information, says Willy Chiu, IBM's vice president of high performance on demand solutions.

"It lets you leverage your infrastructure more effectively," he explains. "Data centers need to be more efficient and responsive to business needs."

Chiu confirmed that a paid-for version of Bluehouse will be generally available early next year.

Despite plenty of recent hype about cloud computing, not all vendors are jumping onto the bandwagon. Last month, for example, Oracle (ORCL Quote)CEO Larry Ellison said that his firm will not invest in cloud computing centers, which he characterized as "the latest fashion trend".