  Cloud computing is the latest effort in delivering computing resources as a
service. It represents a shift away from computing as a product that is
purchased, to computing as a service that is delivered to consumers over the
internet from large-scale data centres - or "clouds". Whilst cloud computing is
gaining growing popularity in the IT industry, academia appeared to be lagging
behind the rapid developments in this field. This paper is the first systematic
review of peer-reviewed academic research published in this field, and aims to
provide an overview of the swiftly developing advances in the technical
foundations of cloud computing and their research efforts. Structured along the
technical aspects on the cloud agenda, we discuss lessons from related
technologies; advances in the introduction of protocols, interfaces, and
standards; techniques for modelling and building clouds; and new use-cases
arising through cloud computing.
