The introduction of cloud computing is going to be gradual. Currently we are only in a phase of preparation with a few pioneers offering services that can be re- garded as belonging to cloud computing. Meanwhile, many large high-tech compa- nies are building huge data centres loaded with hundreds of thousands servers to be made available for customer needs in the near future. 7 Amazon has been the first mover in the field, providing access to half a million developers by way of Amazon Web Services (initially developed for internal pur- poses). Through this cloud computing service, any small firm can start a web- based business on its computer.
