Back in 1975, while most desks were still furnished with manual typewriters, technology pundits were making their predictions on the future of computers in the workplace. Computers showed tremendous potential for word processing and automation, they said, but would they really ever be user-friendly enough for general use? Despite ominous forecasts from typewriter executives, we all know how this story ends. And a slew of other innovations have followed: the Internet, email, smartphones, Wi-Fi, GPS, and many more. A project at IBM is now aiming to have transistors built using carbon nanotubes ready to take over from silicon transistors soon after 2020. According to the semiconductor industry’s roadmap, transistors at that point must have features as small as five nanometers to keep up with the continuous miniaturization of computer chips. Throughout this book are the answers you need to the many questions from the most basic to the more advanced surrounding cloud computing and its place in your enterprise. What exactly is cloud computing? This book brings together the work of researchers, engineers and academics as well as industry professionals from all over the world.
