Cloud Computing: Fundamentals

The first “TV Show” in Timothy Chou’s Cloud Computing Trilogy.

Fundamentals teaches the fundamentals of cloud computing, without using fancy, technical buzzwords and by incorporating plenty of real world examples. It begins by describing the seven fundamental software business models at play and then describes each layer of cloud computing.

Cloud Computing Trilogy consists of three "TV Shows", based on Dr. Chou's Stanford class, numerous keynote speeches and several enterprise workshops. Within each episode, you can watch Timothy give a TED-sized talk, read the text version and see the slide images.

Also consider:

  • Number of Episodes: 10
  • Watch: 2 hrs and 20 mins of combined video
  • Read: 18,381 words in total
  • Tell: 150 pictures from the book you can use to discuss
  • Language: English

Episode Guide

Episode TitleDescription
1. IntroductionIntroduction episode to the Fundamentals TV Show.
2. Business ModelsSeven business models, which range from the traditional to consumer Internet, with outsourcing, SaaS and open source explained from a business model point of view.
3. Cloud Computing FrameworkA cloud-computing framework, which contains seven different components. It’s designed to be used by business or technical people developing strategic and tactical plans.
4. Application Cloud ServicesBusiness applications were first to move. This chapter shows you eight different classes of business applications, all delivered as cloud services with plenty of case studies.
5. Data Center Cloud ServicesTED-sized tutorial for those of you who know datacenters are important, but don’t understand the fundamental attributes.
6. Compute & Storage Cloud ServicesJeff Bezos started the revolution. This chapter focuses on both the technology and the economics and introduces the different was compute & storage cloud services will be differentiated in the future.
7. Operations Management Cloud ServicesThis area is often not something people focus on, but the cost and quality of delivery of any application is dependent on the management of security, availability, performance and change. This should be done with software, not people.
8. Software Development Cloud ServicesThe company that won the developer, Microsoft, won the last major transition from mainframes to client-server. The war is on again. You should understand some of the basics of what is happening.

"It’s monumental…awesome…also love the format - it's way cool" - Toby Redshaw, former CIO American Express

"It should be required reading for our entire sales organization." - Dennis Walczak, Enterprise Account Executive, Box

‘I've been working in a Cloud strategy role for 5 years. The content and concepts presented in Cloud Computing Trilogy and is a must read for anyone travelling the path of Cloud Computing." - Ken Hermann, Solution Solution Manager, Fujitsu

"I took Dr. Chou's class and these books both enable me to review fundamental concepts, but also go far beyond what we had time to do in class." - Russell Kaplan, Stanford Computer Science Student

See all reviews

Read the Accompanying Blogs