This book delivers what it promises: it describes the basics of cloud computing. Chapters 1 and 2 give an introduction indicating where cloud computing comes from, and provide an overview of the different types of cloud computing: software, platform, and infrastructure as a service (SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS); public; private; and hybrid cloud. Community clouds and storage services are discussed as separate items. Chapter 3, “Understanding Cloud Computing,” examines advantages and disadvantages for small, medium, and large organizations; cloud computing contracts; major past outages; and trust enhancers.

An overview of cloud computing providers is provided in chapter 4. It contains the top nine cloud computing offerings, plus some other interesting ones. All of chapter 5 is dedicated to security. It deserves this attention as a key discussion point and as a major decision parameter. Chapter 6 provides a business view on cloud computing. The author explores the benefits, risks, and cost factors, and looks at how cloud computing compares with outsourcing. Once the decision to go for cloud computing is taken, a cloud computing contract comes in sight. This is covered in chapter 7, which considers the somewhat hidden aspects that should be covered.

Each chapter ends with a summary and review questions.

Chapter 2 is just a little longer than the others, but this is justified. This chapter would by itself be a nice overview paper on cloud computing. The other chapters add to that, but there is too much repetition, clouding the added value. Table 3.3, for instance, provides a nice overview of outages since August 2008, which makes the point about availability better than any theoretical argument. Table 4.2 lists features and 4.3 gives costs for cloud storage. Table 5.2 gives the number of data centers and geographical distribution. Tables 5.3 and 5.4 will please your security and audit departments. Table 6.1 lists the business benefits of various cloud computing offerings for small, medium, and large organizations. For contracts, the service-level agreement (SLA) is key, and Table 7.1 summarizes major SLA features for some cloud computing providers.

The book indeed provides cloud computing basics, and maybe more, but it would have been better with fewer pages and less repetition.