Latest News:  

English>>Business

The history of cloud computing

(China Daily)

08:47, January 21, 2013

1960-69: The idea of cloud computing started to emerge before the Internet was invented.

1961: United States computer guru John McCarthy (inventor of the term artificial intelligence, or AI) first suggested a vague model of a computer time-sharing system, which was the early stage of cloud computing.

1983: US computer company Sun Microsystems Inc floated the idea of "the network is the computer". However, Sun was able to roll out only one product based on cloud-computing technology in 2009, before Oracle Corp acquired it.

1997: IT professor Ramnath Chellappa was the first to use "cloud computing" to describe the new computing system that relies on cooperation of computers. He suggested that the cloud would be a new "computing paradigm where the boundaries of computing will be determined by economic rationale rather than technical limits alone."

2006: Web search company Google Inc, for the first time, shared its idea of cloud computing. In the same year, Amazon.com Inc launched one of the world's earliest online storage services named Amazon Simple Storage Service. Amazon's investment in the area has paved way for the company to become one of the biggest cloud-computing service providers globally.

2008: Chinese companies started to learn how the new technology could benefit their businesses.

2010: Cloud-computing services started being used widely in the consumer market.

October 2011: Apple Inc launched iCloud, a cloud-based storage service for Apple product owners. The company claimed iCloud has more than 150 million users as of July 2012.

In 2011: Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd announced plans to develop a cloud-based operating system for smartphones. The move was seen as Alibaba's attempt to tap into China's huge smartphone market.

Since 2011: The Chinese government has reiterated its support for the development of the cloud computing industry in China.

We recommend:

Online turnover surpasses 1 trillion yuan in 2012

Jack Ma to step down as Alibaba CEO

FDI sees 1st decrease in 9 years amid slowdown

China helps drive Rolls to record year

Top Ten Economic Events in 2012

CIC seeks balanced portfolio

Email|Print|Comments(Editor:梁军、厉振羽)

Leave your comment0 comments

  1. Name

  

Selections for you


  1. Mumbai in lens

  2. Carnival-related products sell like hot cakes in Brazil

  3. Curd eating competition held in India

  4. Photos: Chinese Style in 2012

  5. They made 2012 warm and beautiful

  6. Hangzhou Lingyin Temple distributes porridge, causing disorder

  7. Miss Chinese Africa beauty contest

  8. Scenery of Wuyuan at dawn after rainfall

  9. Small firms' last resort for financing

  10. Cute animals enjoy thier toys

Most Popular

Opinions

  1. U.S. sends wrong signal over Diaoyu Islands issue
  2. Labor shortage hits cities as holiday nears
  3. Reaching out to sympathetic Japanese
  4. The fall and rise of James Bond
  5. Intervention in Mali
  6. Proposal to help Chinese 'gay wives' stirs debate
  7. Tax wrong weapon to combat home prices
  8. What you may not know about studying abroad
  9. Reliance on land sales 'must be reformed'
  10. Heroism, a matter unrelated to wealth

What’s happening in China

Photos: Chinese Style in 2012

  1. Highly educated cleaners start jobs in Harbin
  2. Statistician suggests "scientific" population policy
  3. 11 injured in N China fireworks store explosion
  4. Railway police nab 5,144 drug smugglers
  5. Seven dead in Foxconn bus accident