<P> Third - party clouds enable organizations to focus on their core businesses instead of expending resources on computer infrastructure and maintenance . Advocates note that cloud computing allows companies to avoid or minimize up - front IT infrastructure costs . Proponents also claim that cloud computing allows enterprises to get their applications up and running faster, with improved manageability and less maintenance, and that it enables IT teams to more rapidly adjust resources to meet fluctuating and unpredictable demand . Cloud providers typically use a "pay - as - you - go" model, which can lead to unexpected operating expenses if administrators are not familiarized with cloud - pricing models . </P> <P> Since the launch of Amazon EC2 in 2006, the availability of high - capacity networks, low - cost computers and storage devices as well as the widespread adoption of hardware virtualization, service - oriented architecture, and autonomic and utility computing has led to growth in cloud computing . </P> <P> While the term "cloud computing" was popularized with Amazon.com releasing its Elastic Compute Cloud product in 2006, references to the phrase "cloud computing" appeared as early as 1996, with the first known mention in a Compaq internal document . </P> <P> The cloud symbol was used to represent networks of computing equipment in the original ARPANET by as early as 1977, and the CSNET by 1981--both predecessors to the Internet itself . The word cloud was used as a metaphor for the Internet and a standardized cloud - like shape was used to denote a network on telephony schematics . With this simplification, the implication is that the specifics of how the end points of a network are connected are not relevant for the purposes of understanding the diagram . </P>

When was the first idea of cloud presented