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Cloud computing — sometimes also called utility computing — offers the prospect of servers, computing power, and data storage being made available to customers across the Internet. Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud is perhaps the most well-known example of this technology at work. The idea: companies don't necessarily need computers, per se; they need what computers can do — computing. So, rather than owning computing hardware, simply rent what's needed — CPU cycles — as needed. Using Web servers provisioned 'in the cloud' allows a Web site to quickly boost performance, should they suddenly be discovered by Oprah, for example. Would cloud computing be a boon or a bust for your work?
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