In the news: 3Tera

3Tera, Inc. of Aliso Viejo, CA, a cloud computing solution provider, recently announced that it is being acquired by CA, Inc., the global IT management software company.  The company’s press release cites 3Tera’s AppLogic® product, a turn-key cloud computing platform for  distributed applications. 

According to the USPTO database, 3Tera has one issued U.S. patent and is listed as assignee for at least three pending U.S. patent applications, one of which is U.S. Pat. Appl. Publ. No. 2009/0276771 entitled “Globally Distributed Utility Computing Cloud,” published on November 5, 2009. 

In contrast to architectures which utilize localized computer systems, “cloud computing” utilizes remote or distributed computer resources accessed over the Internet (i.e., the “cloud”) to provide the desired service or functionality.  Rather than having to buy the needed physical infrastructure, businesses using “cloud computing” can access the desired resources over the Internet and pay only for the resources that they use.  Such a resource- or time-sharing arrangements can significantly reduce the business’ start-up or “barrier to entry” costs by avoiding large capital expeditures for computer hardware.  Also, cloud computing has been touted as providing other benefits as well, for example, improved efficiency from the sharing of computer resources by multiple businesses to avoid under-utilization of the resources.  

While the general concept for such architectures may have been around for awhile, the term “cloud computing” seems to be recently coined.  For example, a search of the USPTO database shows no U.S. patent applications published  before 2008 using the term.  Eight applications published in 2008, 135 in 2009, and 53 so far in 2010 have included the term.