Video: What is Cloud Computing, Anyway? These Kids Get Pretty Close

The Seattle area is an undeniable leader in the rapidly growing cloud-computing sector, from tech mega-companies like Microsoft and Amazon, to local branches like the expanding EMC Isilon division, and active investors.

We know it’s big. We know it’s important. We know it will change the way things are done. But if you’re not an insider, conversing with cloud experts can leave your head reeling with references to platforms-as-a-service, Hadoop, CouchDB, virtualization, spot instances, noSQL, and so on.

There’s apparently no shortage of bluster within the industry, either. As Scott Sanchez, who works for OpenStack, tweeted on his personal account:

So, for those non-experts out there who have been pretending to know more than you do, please take heart in this awesome video from the folks at tech consulting firm Avanade. During a recent kids-at-work day, they decided to have a little fun and ask the office youngsters what they thought of this critical new trend in business.

(For the record, I’m with Sophia, who breaks it down as simply “technology in the sky.”)

Oh, and talent recruiters should keep their eye on the last kid, in the (very) junior executive outfit. I see a CEO in the making.

Author: Curt Woodward

Curt covered technology and innovation in the Boston area for Xconomy. He previously worked in Xconomy’s Seattle bureau and continued some coverage of Seattle-area tech companies, including Amazon and Microsoft. Curt joined Xconomy in February 2011 after nearly nine years with The Associated Press, the world's largest news organization. He worked in three states and covered a wide variety of beats for the AP, including business, law, politics, government, and general mayhem. A native Washingtonian, Curt earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA. As a past president of the state's Capitol Correspondents Association, he led efforts to expand statehouse press credentialing to online news outlets for the first time.