As more and more companies move to the cloud, it is important to keep in mind what actually constitutes as “the cloud” rather than another software claiming to be in the cloud, when in reality, it falls short. Steven John lists 10 critical characteristics of a true cloud application (such as multi-use, regularly updated, and seamless integration); if your company does not follow these guidelines, you’re not truly “in the cloud.”

• 10 Critical Requirements for Cloud Applications

An infographic that takes us back all the way to 1991 when the first website was developed to the present day. Interesting to see how far we’ve come in the past two decades with web technology.

• Web Design Evolution: Two Decades of Innovation

On Thursday, multiple Amazon Availability Zones went down, taking Foursquare, Reddit, Heroku, and many other websites with it. Fast forward 24 hours, and Amazon is still trying to resolve the issue. Rather than blaming the cloud, however, we should embrace the situation and learn from it. Warfield offers his opinion, stating that, “the trick is in making your infrastructure sufficiently metadata driven,” as well as test the production of your infrastructure for any possible downtime to prepare for when a crisis actually occurs. If you think ahead, many issues can be resolved quicker when they actually arise.

• What to do When Your Cloud is Down

There is a lot to be optimistic about when it comes to the cloud. According to a new Sand Hill Group survey, cloud computing and SaaS will drive the largest amount of spending in the next 12 months. Moreover, over 100 software companies expect their businesses to grow by at least 20% by the end of 2011, which will result in significantly more jobs. Over 50% of said respondents believe that cloud computing is imperative to increase efficiency and reduce costs.

• Cloud Computing to Drive Industry Growth in 2011
  

This Earth Day, instead of coming up with ways to take less time in the shower, consider moving to the cloud- it might save you more energy than you think. In fact, a recent study performed by Accenture and WSP Environment and Energy found that moving your small business to the cloud, “can reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions on a per-user basis by 30 to 90 percent versus running those same applications on-premises.” The cloud is not only an efficient resource for businesses, but also an important part of our earth’s future and helping the environment.

• Earth Day 2011: Cloud Computing… Can it Help?