Cloud computing has been positioned as today's ideal IT platform. This book looks at what cloud promises and how it's likely to evolve in the future. Readers will be able to ensure that decisions made now will hold them in good stead in the future and will gain an understanding of how cloud can deliver the best outcome for their organisations.

Part 1: Looking Back 1: Background Part 2: The Cloud Now 2: The cloud 3: Why cloud? 4: Basic cloud platforms 5: Alternative cloud platforms 6: Alternative cloud models 7: Main types of SaaS cloud services 8: Where should a cloud platform reside? 9: Paying for cloud services Part 3: The Very Near Future 10: Building the right cloud 11: Issues with cloud computing 12: Cloud and the 'CDs' 13: Creating the business case for the cloud 14: Scale out, scale up, scale through 15: Cloud and data 16: Cloud security 17: Virtualisation, shareable resources and elasticity 18: The change in applications 19: Applications, virtual machines and containers 20: Full audit is required 21: Monitoring, measuring and managing the cloud Part 4: The Future of Cloud 22: The ultimate future 23: In conclusion