Speaking to the Computer Science and Engineering faculty at the University of Washington on Thursday 4th March 2010, Steve Ballmer outlined his view on the cloud and the future of the cloud.

When talking about the technology industry investment in utilising and developing cloud technologies, Ballmer said;
“we’re betting our company on, and I <believe> pretty much everybody in the technology industry is betting their companies on, <that’s around> $3.3 trillion”

Ballmer discussed the five key dimensions he believed would influence and drive the development of the cloud.
Firstly, he noted “the cloud creates opportunities and responsibilities”. Something that we at cloudhosts believe in whole heartedly. The evolution of our own cloud platform is creating a whole new dimension to internet based hosting for our customers, bringing resilient technologies to the mass market at affordable prices.

Secondly, “The cloud learns and helps you learn, decide and take action”.  The ‘cloud’ uses technologies which can learn.  Cloudhosts cloud monitors usage by customers and adapts to ensure all customers receive equal share of resources including allowing you to burst in to idle capacity when available – but always ensuring you a guaranteed base performance level.

Thirdly, “the cloud enhances your social and professional interactions”. Cloudhosts dynamism and resilience enables increased productivity by removing the limitations imposed by other hosting solutions letting you get the best performance and responsiveness when you need it.

Fourthly “the cloud wants smarter devices”. Cloudhosts is built on the latest and greatest technologies including Microsofts own Hyper-V Server R2, the latest generation Intel processors and high end SAN technology to enable these advanced features.

The final dimension “the cloud drives server advances that, in turn, drive the cloud”. The technology used within the cloud is ever evolving.  It is inherently built on a model that allows upgrade of the infrastructure to adopt newer and more advanced technology ensuring any cloudhosts customer will always be on the latest technology.

He also stated the following regarding Microsoft specific investment and direction on cloud based technologies, stating;
“about 70 percent of the folks who work for us today <40,000> are either doing something that is designed exclusively for the cloud, or is inspired to serve the five dimensions that I talked about today.” he went on to say, “a year from now that will be 90 percent.”