Utility computing: Difference between revisions

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Revision as of 20:45, 29 April 2006

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{{cleanup-date|August 2005}}

'''Utility computing''' is a [[business model]] whereby a service provider makes available [[computer]] resources to their clients and charges them for the usage rather than the [[hardware]]. Like you pay the [[natural gas|gas]] company or the [[electric]] company for its service based on usage, computing resources are metered and the user charged on that basis. A related term is [[On Demand Computing]] and [[grid computing]].

== History ==

Utility computing is not a new concept but has a long history. It was first described by John McCarthy at MIT Centennial in 1961. He said, "If computers of the kind I have advocated become the computers of the future, then computing many someday be organized as a public utility just as the telephone system is a public utility... The computer utility could become the basis of a new and important industry."

Utility computing does not yet have a long history. Sun first offered the service to consumers in 2000. HP introduced the Utility Data Center in 2001. Since 2000 many important computing companies have entered the market, but there have also been smaller organizations that have used utility computing. Some of these organizations use utility computing to help offset the cost of their own hardware, others use it to share the cost of resources within organizations. In December 2005, Alexa launched Alexa Web Search Platform, a Web search building tool for which the underlying power is utility computing. Alexa charges users for storage, utilization, etc. There is space in the market for other niche applications powered by utility computing.

UtilityIBM conducted this kind of business offering computing doespower notand yetdatabase havestorage ato longbig historybanks from its world wide data centers. As SunIntel firstincreased the desktop power, the computer architecture has gone through terminal/mainframe, client/server, brower/middleware. Recently, it was re-initiated by Sun offeredoffering the service to consumers in 2000. HP introduced the Utility Data Center in 2001. Since 2000 many important computing companies have entered the market, but there have also been smaller organizations that have used utility computing. Some of these organizations use utility computing to help offset the cost of their own hardware, others use it to share the cost of resources within organizations. In December 2005, Alexa launched Alexa Web Search Platform, a Web search building tool for which the underlying power is utility computing. Alexa charges users for storage, utilization, etc. There is space in the market for other niche applications powered by utility computing.