New Amazon Service Adds Graphics to the Cloud
Taking an important step toward ubiquitous computing for regular consumers, Amazon.com has added graphics processing to its cloud computing service. Announced in the Amazon Web Services Blog, the new feature takes advantage of graphics chip technology to provide Joe Computer-user with access to state-of-the-art remote calculations.
Previously, Amazon only offered remote storage. By moving graphics computing to the cloud , Amazon has taken yet another physical component of the computer out of the PC. This is an important step toward a future where devices will only need a screen, an input mechanism and a modem to access the full range of capabilities that currently require a complete computer.
Initially, this service will only help academic and commercial institutions who use the power of graphics cards for large computations. However, as those first adopters work out the kinks in this system, this and similar services could provide HD video and graphics-intensive games to users who lack the souped-up home systems currently required to run those applications.
