When we talk about Cloud Computing in CloudSplit this is what we mean:

· Virtualization: All the components in the system are configured in software and have APIs to allow access. The people component has essential been eliminated. People still exist but a Cloud Computing consumer never sees them. Instead they see an API or a web-page interface to all their services.

· Fine Grained Allocation: In Cloud Computing the units of allocation are small enough to make sense to even one-man businesses. Sub-cent pricing for transactions and zero upfront costs can make Cloud Computing very attractive for high growth start-ups and/or cost constrained IT departments.

· Bi-Directional Scalability: The ability to turn stuff off as fast as you can turn it on without incurring setup fees, extended contracts and/or waiting periods. This scale up/scale down model ideally suits spiky or seasonal workloads (e.g. the storage requirements of a University are significantly reduced out of term).

· All You Can Eat: The ability to consume resources in an unbounded fashion. Amazon will never tell you they are out of disk space. One of the trickiest problems to deal with prior to cloud computing was what to do when you hit your existing resource limitations (particularly disk space).

· Pay as You Use: Only pay for use, not configuration. If you do not turn on the node or store data, then you do not incur costs. Setup fees become a thing of the past.