The IT sector is full of hypes. But once in a while there is a genuine inflection point, a moment at which the way of doing things fundamentally changes due to the introduction of new technologies.The rise of cloud computing is just such an inflection point. Cloud computing is the next stage of the Internet computing model, one in which organizations will consume services, not technologies. These services will be ready to run, available outside the office walls, and be paid for on the basis of usage, just like water or electricity. As the cloud and services model matures, not only will businesses be able to solve old problems more inexpensively and rapidly, they will also be able to address new challenges that were previously out of reach.