The cloud is often sold as the perfect option for increasing computing and storage needs by reducing the cost and energy usage required to perform these functions with in-house hardware. But what are the true environmental tolls of simply shifting the energy costs to someone else's data center?

Because of its ability to advance the time-to-release and the overall quality of software, automated testing has been steadily growing in popularity. Sumit Mehrotra explains how virtualization and a hybrid cloud-based model provide for dynamic capacity management and a well-resourced IT department.

Sanjeeb Kumar Jena looks at how cloud computing's stratospheric rise puts it at the same must-have level as any public utility commodity. But how are the technologies between utility computing and cloud computing different? What gives cloud computing the upper hand?