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Websites have gone from hand-typed static pages, to massive applications with every feature under the moon. Most applications have some secret sauce that does magical things in the background - whether that be the ability to handle massive amounts of volume, reduce the barrier to entry into a market, or just keep users engaged by providing endless amounts of quick short updates. Take Amazon as an example. Amazon operates their environment as a bunch of different groups, each running different services within the same company. S3, EC2, Payment Services. They're all independent, highly scalable features, tied together in the application we call Amazon.com. Companies and startups are starting to break this operational model open, and putting those individual features online - for everyone. They're building services that do something really well - or rather that do one thing really really well. They're companies that focus on a specific function or feature and be open enough so creative people can say "I'm going to take this, this, and this - mix it in a pot and voila!". Do you want to build your own Twitter? Find an SMS gateway, Cloud Computing Host and XMPP service provider. Do you want to build an interesting RSS/ATOM service? Find an RSS aggregator service and pour on some glue - see what sticks. It's Feature as a Service world (to use an already overused description). Eventually cloud companies will realize that operating a single feature really *really* well is tremendously valuable. Why does everyone have to build their own DNS service? Why does everyone have to build their own hosting system? What about Enterprise Storage, Authentication, SMS Gateways, Massively scalable XMPP services? How come I have to do that myself? Can 10,000 messages sent through a jabber server be worth a dollar?

Kevin Kelly, the founder of Wired Magazine wrote a very timely article entitled 'Follow the Moon'. He talks about where computation will settle after the cloud turns into one ubiquitous machine.

Most likely different industries adopt a different scenario. Maybe financial follows the moon, while commerce follows the sun, and entertainment follows the law. A single computing environment (One Machine) should not suggest homogeneity. A meadow is not homogeneous, but its does act as a coherent ecological system.

I've had this discussion in small circles before and it's an excellent view of the computing world of the future. It also makes for some very interesting problems in the infrastructure department - all of them are opportunities for startups and established hardware vendors alike.
If you have an infrastructure thats moving constantly, then you have to start building datacenters that are much more efficient. So efficient in fact that they're elastic in their usage of electricity to the point of turning off computers when they aren't needed - or at least going into an ultra low power mode. This would save money by reducing the amount of electricity and cooling required. You'd also need a lot more IP addresses, because if you're going to start moving the locations of objects you'll need to route the data to the correct location - and DNS probably won't cut it. Storage translation and control systems, cloud 'object' tracking, optimization equations - the whole nine yards.

Whether or not it's intended by the architects of these systems will have no affect on the eventual outcome. This will happen.

Boris Mann of Bootup Labs and Myself are heading down to San Francisco on June 25th to check out Structure 08, a conference presented by GigaOM and sponsored by Peer1 Networks.

Structure 08 is a conference developed by award winning technology writer Om Malik. Structure 08 is created to inform businesses so they can plan their future computing infrastructure needs. With a uniquely privileged vantage brought by our industry-leading speakers and their deep insight, Structure 08 will allow our audience to filter the new technology explosion and determine the right choices. We will highlight the best implementations, case studies, ideas and startups.

It's perfect timing really. The cloud computing space is moving so quickly, everyone has to get together and talk about where things are moving to. If you're interested in the space (and you should be!) then check out the Cloud Computing Google Group or join some of us on #cloud-computing on irc.freenode.net

The very first Cloudcamp is happening in San Francisco just before Structure 08 this year and I'll be there. Cloudcamp is being organized by Reuven Cohen over at Enomalism and so far the turnout looks to be promising. Hopefully we'll be able to sort out some definitions about what 'Cloud Computing' really is, and be able to share our individual insights regarding this very rapidly moving space.