Businesses, governments, corporations, and individuals are moving to the cloud. Why? Because of the convenience of moving data offsite, the advantages of multi-platform and multi-device access, and the fact that the cloud is the emergent computing infrastructure du jour.

However, cloud computing is not new. GitHub, for example, has been sharing and hosting code since 2008, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Apple’s iCloud offer private and public clouds respectively.

This book is an excellent reference to all things cloud, and it includes an impressive list of contributors. Citing the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the authors broadly address five characteristics of the cloud: on-demand self-service, broad network access, resource pooling, rapid elasticity, and measured service.

I found this a fascinating read. The authors cover services, applications, and scaling. A common concern is security design, which is covered in chapter 7. Management and technologies are discussed next. The volume concludes with future trends and research directions.

The book is clearly written and easily accessible. Every chapter includes screenshots with appropriate explanations, code where needed, case studies, and references. Some examples of other content include various application programming interfaces (APIs), rich Internet applications, tenancy, storage virtualization, and legal issues.

I usually prefer ebooks, but my softcover edition of this book is an exception. Although a thick volume, it is comfortable to flip through and content is easily found. This one stays on my desk.

I recommend this book as bedtime reading for computing students at any level. Professionals who want a comprehensive reference that easily facilitates problem solving and developing services will find it useful and informative.