This week in 
andard compared to traditional smartbooks, netbooks, laptops or desktop
computers. The new devices are the first to break the $100 price barrier and
deliver fast, powerful "on-demand" access to applications and
media/communication services hosted on Windows, Linux or Media Virtual PCs.
The recent service
disruption that
impacted T-Mobile Sidekick customers highlights how fragile cloud applications
and services can be if they are not managed correctly. Although the service
disruption, which impacted a user's ability to access personal information
stored on Sidekick devices, such as contacts, calendar entries, to-do lists and
photos has been somewhat
resolved, it begs the question: "Who is best suited to deliver cloud services,
enterprise IT organizations or telecom operators?"
As poin
ted out by Gartner
analyst Daryl Plummer, the
clock is ticking for telecom providers to jump on the cloud computing
bandwagon. Cloud computing is quickly evolving and offers telecom operators a
unique opportunity to deliver all types of new services bundled with broadband
connectivity -- everything from netbooks and virtualized desktops to private
cloud services.
Ever
since Microsoft blamed
netbooks for some of its troubles,
there has been no shortage
of opinions on this new device's disruptive effect on the PC, software and
semiconductor businesses.
