A Salesforce.com executive has stated that cloud computing users are expecting more and more from the applications they employ.

Parker Harris, executive vice president of Salesforce.com, said that one decade ago, the goal was to come up with business services that had the same simple level of usability as Amazon, reports PC Mag.

He said expectations have shifted over the course of time, with users wanting features such as connections to other services and social media functions as part of their cloud computing offering.

There is also often a requirement from clients to have the technology linked up to mobile devices, it was suggested.

Earlier this month, new Salesforce.com application Chatter was examined by Adam Honig on the CRM Insights website.

He stated that document and data changes can be easily tracked on the service, allowing users to keep on top of business opportunities, contact detail changes or account alterations, reported MarketingProfs.

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Is the cloud insecure? Maybe. But that's not the first question IT should ask.

As a result, this CTO's company, which had deployed its applications on top of Amazon's Web service offering, is bugging out of the public cloud and into a private co-location facility. While he believes his team can configure the Amazon service to be just as secure as the on-site option, and the cloud's low startup costs and rapid deployment benefits are attractive, he had to ask: Could the model cost us business?

Microsoft, Google, Cisco, Red Hat, and VMware also rank high up on a survey by IT consulting firm BTC Logic

Amazon and IBM are the "cloud champions" according to a new report, but Microsoft, Google, Cisco, Red Hat, and VMware are also among the list of heavyweights in the emerging cloud computing field.

All tech vendors are embracing the cloud. Even those that don't provide public cloud services are fighting to become the top builders of infrastructures to support emerging cloud networks.

A new quarterly report from BTC Logic, an IT consulting firm, attempts to rank the top cloud players, and puts them into seven broad categories: cloud foundations, infrastructure, network services, platforms, applications, security and management.

Psst! Mister. You wanna buy some cloud? Cloud computing that is. It is the wave of the future in the delivery of everything from computer software to media products to computer services. Market researcher The 451 Group estimates that revenue for infrastructure as a service, one of the two big categories of cloud computing will grow to $1.2 billion a year by 2013 from $200 million last year. Data storage in the cloud, the other big cloud computing segment, will see revenue climb to $1.7 billion in 2013 from $150 million in 2009, the group estimates.

Even Microsoft (MSFT) in its current update to its cash cow Office 2010 software is taking steps toward the day when most people will buy most of the software they need over the Internet as a service that’s resident on big server farms scattered around the world.

But as survivors of the telecom boom (and bust), the dot.com boom (and bust) and, going even further back, the disk drive boom (and bust) know, the future waves in technology can leave investors drowning in a sea of red ink.

IBM today announced it has acquired Cast Iron Systems to broaden the delivery of cloud computing services for clients. Cast Iron Systems, a privately held company based in Mountain View, CA, delivers industry-leading cloud integration software, appliances and services. Financial terms were not disclosed. The acquisition expands IBM’s industry-leading business process and integration software portfolio, which grew more than 20 percent in the first quarter of 2010.

Cast Iron Systems has completed thousands of cloud integrations around the world for financial institutions, media and entertainment companies and retail organizations. The company's clients include Allianz, NEC, Peet's Coffee & Tea, Dow Jones, Schumacher Group, ShoreTel, Sports Authority, Time Warner, Westmont University and many others.

Despite being among the first to successfully and profitably implement cloud computing solutions, AWS officials said the company still has to constantly deal with questions about the reliability, security, cost, elasticity and other features of the cloud. In short, there are myths about cloud computing that persist despite increased industry adoption and thousands of successful cloud deployments. However, in an exclusive interview with eWEEK at Amazon's headquarters in Seattle, Adam Selipsky, vice president of AWS, set out to shoot down some of the myths of the cloud. Specifically, Selipsky debunked five cloud myths.

"We've seen a lot of misperceptions about what cloud computing is," he said.

Thus, the Cloud Computing Expo, as well as the virtual Cloud Lab and Cloud Slam events happening during the same week, provides a solid backdrop for Amazon’s myth busting.