As we arrive at 2009, cloud computing is the technology creating the most buzz. Cloud technology is in its infancy, however, and enterprises would be wise to limit their efforts to small, targeted projects until the technology matures and vendors address a variety of potentially deal-breaking problems.

First off, let’s define cloud computing. Gartner says it is “a style of computing whose massively scalable and elastic, IT-related capabilities are provided ‘as a service’ to external customers using Internet technologies.”

The two most commonly cited examples of cloud offerings come from Amazon.com and Google, both of which basically rent their data-center resources to outside customers.

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