For each generation of good idea, there needs to be a seed: An injection of high-profile capital that energises the market and fires the imagination. With The Cloud, that investment could well be from Microsoft. KitGuru pulls out the trusty old abacus.

People have been talking about the cloud for a very long time.

The fundamental principal is about the same as the original mainframe/dumb terminal scenario that was so popular in the 1950s.

In the intervening 50 years, we have been inundated with a ton of advertising and marketing messages that the ‘old style, monolithic, centralised data centre is not the way to do'.

Now, it appears, we were wrong.

You can expect millions more dollars trying to push our thinking back the other way.

So what is the project that is expected to kick start a mini-boom in Cloud interest?

Microsoft's decision to earmark $1 billion for a Cloud to provide functionality for the XBox ONE.

The initial investment in physical data centres etc will be close to $700 million – with an additional amount for up-keep, service, support and upgrades in the near future.

The underlying technology has been field tested by customers of Microsoft  Windows Azure – so you can be guaranteed that it will be fully compliant with the US government's requirement for ‘pants around the ankles – sure you can access any personal details or messages you like in real time'.

KitGuru says: In Ireland alone, the Microsoft Azure centre has penciled in more than 22 mega watts of power. And that's just one centre. Apparently, The XBox ONE will need these centres across the globe. This Cloud thingy better come with its own lightning generator.

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