Cloud services are the most talked about internet based service and have been developed by quite a few big companies like Microsoft, Yahoo and Google. In this, companies provide the necessary infrastructure to host Internet services such as mail. Just to check or send mail, you cannot invest in a mail server and other related hardware infrastructure. It is a bit too expensive for an individual or a company. Therefore, what these providers do is rent these services at minimal cost and save you a lot of money.

Cloud services are public or private services. Emails belong to public service and private or paid services include a variety of services like data storage, data backup, paid service applications like Googleapps and even online games like the popular World of Warcraft (WoW). Cloud services allow a user to access data at any time or play games at any time, as long as they have an internet connection. Since gaming platforms like WoW give users the opportunity to create a character or an avatar and play with other users online, they should create a username for Massively Multi Player games so they don’t have to create another avatar and keep what they had. I have already created

With cloud services being favored by small businesses, the big players are getting in on the foray to do the killing. Here are some of them:

Microsoft was one of the first to provide the service. In fact, one of its top officials declared cloud services the future of Microsoft. Their Azure Services is an on-demand hosting service with storage and web applications included. Another important key player is the Amazon. Amazon has an advantage over other companies in that it charges only per use and not a fixed monthly subscription. The next name that would appear on this list is the software giant IBM. They combine public cloud and private cloud to provide a hybrid cloud for entrepreneurs.

If these companies are in the foray, then Google cannot be left behind. Google is way ahead of other companies in cloud services with PaaS. Its GoogleAppsEngine helps its subscribers build web applications. Salesforce is another well-known name in the field of customer service. Their trading software is known to be useful for small businesses and is quite popular. They provide cloud services with chat support and mobile support for Blackberry and iPhone. Other well-known names in this field include Red Hat, Dell, Cisco, and HP.