BANGALORE, INDIA: The year 2008 has seen a lot of technology paradigm shifts and some great new technologies that could be leveraged by developers. But of all the trends to benefit developers, Cloud Computing by far surpasses in terms of long-term impact and significant value.

Cloud computing is an emerging trend and is something we see Indian companies taking a lot of interest in. It is enabling a new class of entrepreneurs since one doesn’t need to build offices, distribution centers, data centers or really infrastructure of any kind - everything is managed in the cloud. 

Leveraging the Internet, and building on Internet-based platforms like Force.com, these new entrepreneurs need relatively little capital to grow and can tap into vast IT expertise in India.  The Web also offers great marketplaces like the AppExchange that provide global distribution. We are entering a new era of democratization for developers around the world and a huge shift in power in the software industry which symbolises an explosion in choice and innovation.

The current economic uncertainty is propelling the shift to cloud computing. The low upfront costs, low risks and fast return of cloud computing will make it much more appealing to companies constrained for cash but pressured to get quick returns on technology. Traditional client server vendors have had a difficult time rationalizing their approach to this new technology and business model, while enterprises are opening up more and more critical functions to cloud computing. 

Salesforce.com has more than 1.1 million users at over 51,800 companies globally including global industry leaders like Dell, Symantech, Cisco and Starbucks. CIO’s from organizations like Citi and Harrah’s Casinos are just starting to realize the power and benefits of the model. 

Cloud computing is a general concept that includes many things. In the case of salesforce.com, we see cloud computing as encompassing both software as a service (SaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS),  both well-known technology trends, in which the common theme is reliance on the Internet for satisfying the computing needs of the users.

For example, Salesforce.com provides Force.com, a platform from where developers can build and deliver any application, all without buying or maintaining any infrastructure. These applications are accessed from a web browser, while the software and data are stored on salesforce.com’s servers. The Force.com Platform-as-Service provides the necessary building blocks to make cloud computing real for the enterprise. 

For internal IT departments, the Force.com platform will completely change the role of IT departments.  The break-fix-patch-upgrade components of IT will become irrelevant, because with the cloud everyone runs on one shared infrastructure and one version.  It also creates a new role for IT departments: innovation. When you can develop, deploy, and run apps in the cloud, without having to worry about buying and maintaining hardware and software, you can focus on adding value to the business.