Cloud computing isn't a fad. The commoditization of hardware (and to an extent, software) has lead to the emergence of "rentable" infrastructures where you can deploy your applications. These applications take advantage of the providers' expertise in scaling and availability (one way to think about it is this: who is better at keeping your site live: you or Google? What's more, who has more machines available to scale an application: you or Amazon?). There are a number of players in this space, however, the big two for Java, in my opinion, are Amazon (EC2) and Google (GAE). Each platform is different from each other on many different fronts, yet the benefits are quite similar: on-demand inexpensive scalability.

• The Cloud in 2010
• Forrester’s outlook for 2010: less fat, more meat
• Development 2.0: Borrowed infrastructures
• Java development 2.0: Hello Google App Engine
• Java development 2.0: You can borrow EC2 too
• Java development 2.0: Easy EC2
• Java development 2.0: Gaelyk for Google App Engine
• ciinabox.com
• java web applications in a box
• Download a PDF copy of this presentation

I regularly blog about the cloud and development 2.0 at thediscoblog.com; plus, you can follow me on Twitter. Thanks again for attending and please feel free to contact me as I'm happy to answer questions you might have regarding this presentation!