I'm in this business. "Cloud Computing" is the big buzz word a new thing in IT.
However, most businesses are opting for the "local cloud" solution (virtualization with servers in their own datacenter) and everyday folks like US wouldn't dream of putting the only copy of their PERSONAL data online.
Fail. Fail. Fail.
Google, Amazon et al have built a bridge too far.
In the business space, if not a local cloud...they go with very specific Service Level Agreements...specifying where all back-ups go (either to the home datacenter or a back-up system in ANOTHER provider's datacenter) and very specific requirements around data security.
Google and the big "cloud" companies do do custom solutions, one's that actually meet customer's fiduciary and regulatory requirements.
Remember ISDN? This is the computing equivalent.
Ref: local cloud (i.e. virtualization)
Could you explain what “content” is on the hosted data center’s site? I was negotiating a “trail” cloud engagement today and this issue became a very “hot” subject matter regarding the liability of the customer’s content. I kept trying to explain that the data center does not actually have the customer’s data (nor liability) and that the “cloud” only provides the ability for the customer to use the internet as a way to their data.