Although cloud storage service as we know it now appeared not so long ago, the roots of this phenomena date back to the 60's. In this article we will trace the path IT experts had to pass to make their inconceivable ideas come true.
The concept of global computer network was first elaborated in 1969 by J.C.R. Licklider. He wanted to created some virtual space that would allow all users of this planet to be interconnected and have access to data from any site, any point of Earth. According to some other sources, it was John McCartny who offered computing to be used as a public utility.
The starting step was made in 1982, when the first Ethernet adapter card was released, providing fast and easy connection enabling cloud computing.
In 1989, Software Tool & Die Internet Service provider appeared, and seven years after was launched IT-2 – a global network supplying 270,000 users around the world with quick Ethernet connection.
By the way, the term "cloud computing" was proposed in 1997 by Ramnath Chellappa, professor of University of Texas, when he was discussing the "new computing paradigm".
In 1998, software providing virtualized hardware to guest operating system was introduced. That allowed elaborating a network accommodating virtual LANs.
2000 was milestone for cloud storage services development: Government developed "grids", network technologies which helped users to share resources.
From 2001 to 2004 USA government was experimenting with various models, software and services helping to unite devices and users from different continents.
The next important event took place in 2002, when Amazon Web Services launched a set of cloud-based services (computation, storage). And in 2006 it presented Elastic Compute cloud: a service for renting computers on which users can run their applications.
In 2009, when Web 2.0 was launched, Google started offering for enterprises browser-based applications, which helped to promote online services among regular users. Starting from 2008, a number of cloud storage services appeared: Dropbox, Government Cloud, AppExchange and many others.
The last groundbreaking turning point was signing of a $600 mln contract between Amazon Web Services and CIA to create a private cloud with high security level.
Continuing to develop, cloud services will give us new possibilities and flexibility to customize IT business and data storage.
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