Cloud computing is an industry term for information that is stored remotely on equipment operated by outside specialists and accessed via the Internet.
At its annual conference this week, VMware has unveiled technology aimed at both making it easier for businesses to move information into the cloud and to run their own data centers more efficiently.
Named "vCloud Director", VMware’s new software is aimed at letting businesses set up server-computer systems to run new programs more quickly than the days or weeks it often takes now.
The product also helps companies track in more detail the computing resources these programs consume.
It also gives businesses the ability determine on the fly whether a program will run on their own computers or “in the cloud.”
Running a data center “will become increasingly a business discussion,” and not a series of technical decisions, said Paul Maritz, VMware’s chief executive.
Research company IDC predicts that spending on cloud computing will increase to $55.5 billion in 2014 from $16.5 billion in 2009 as businesses realise it can be cheaper to outsource their data centers than to build and manage their own.