Awesome Blog/Report on Cloud Computing by IDC

Those quant guys at IDC have been at it again. This time, they've posted a really fine report/overview on cloud computing on their "IDC Exchange" Blog page, authored by Frank Gens. It was initially posted in September, but it looks like they've been adding report bits (and great graphics) to it for a while.

Over the coming weeks, we’ll roll out a number of posts on cloud services and cloud computing. While these posts can be read standalone, they can also be viewed as parts of a single, coherent IDC overview of this emerging model and market opportunity. We’ll use this post to create a “virtual table of contents”, adding links to these cloud-related posts as they’re published, allowing you to see how different elements of our cloud outlook fit together, and to easily navigate among them.

Here's the Table of Contents:

• Defining “Cloud Services” and “Cloud Computing”
• What’s Driving the Cloud Computing Era? An IT Market View
• Framing the Cloud Opportunity for IT Suppliers
• The Transformative Interplay Between Cloud and Traditional IT Offerings
• IT Cloud Services User Survey, pt. 1: Crossing the Chasm
• IT Cloud Services User Survey, pt.2: Top Benefits & Challenges
• IT Cloud Services User Survey, pt.3: What Users Want From Cloud Services Providers
• IT Cloud Services Forecast - 2008, 2012: A Key Driver of New Growth

BTW, if you want a chuckle, click on the "listen now" button to hear a machine-generated voice read the pages for you. Listen closely to the fact that the computer never takes a breath. :)