Much fanfare has been made recently about the Federal government's Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative (FDCCI). At this point, I think everyone can agree on a few fundamental notions that are almost certain not to change with regard to data center consolidation and cloud computing. First, the Federal government is going full steam ahead into the practice of cloud computing. Vivek Kundra, among many others, has made very clear that the future of IT in government resides in cloud-based operating models. Second, is the idea that the Federal government urgently wants to reduce its data center footprint. With close to 2,100 data centers currently in use it is no surprise that the government wants to reduce the costs and complexities associated with IT operations and management through the notion of shared resources, pooling, and realizing increased computing efficiencies through coordinated consolidation. While the Federal government's push to be proactive in identifying a future direction for IT is commendable,...

"I have no idea what anyone is talking about," – Larry Ellison, CEO Oracle Corp. talking about cloud computing, as quoted in the Wall Street Journal's article The Internet Industry Is on a Cloud -- Whatever That May Mean

Mr. Ellison is not alone. It's quite possible that if you ask 10 experts what they think cloud computing is you may get 10 answers. Even if nobody knows what cloud computing really is, one thing is certain: if internet searches are any indication of interest and uptake, this year will be a big year for cloud computing. A quick search on Google Trends reveals that just this year, the volume of searches for "cloud computing" began to overtake searches for the more mainstream topics like "virtualization".

So what's all the buzz about? Is cloud-computing revolutionary, or