Cloud computing eats its own metaphor

THE BEAUTIFUL CITY OF INVERNESS, known to locals as the capital of the Highlands of Scotland, is set to become the epicenter of the cloud computing movement as local IT firm Alchemy Plus inks a deal with The Vole for a new data storage complex.

The project, due to be built at a cost of £20m, will see a massive server and storage farm built to house data for businesses both locally and around the world. Although the project is being built in conjunction with Microsoft, it's unclear whether or how it fits into the company's previously announced Strata cloud computing service.

In an amusing twist that is sure to delight in those who find technology naming conventions aggravating, it turns out that one of the major reasons Alchemy won the contract is the fact that the weather in Inverness is so cold, less cooling is needed to keep the server farm running within tolerances, thus conserving energy (and cash).

So the clouds of Inverness power the Clouds of the internet. There is certainly a ring to it.

Steart Nichol, who lists as his job title 'Chief Executive of Inverness Chamber of Commerce', said that "This is a field in which Inverness and the Highlands can excel."

Yes, certainly no one can deny that the Scots do bad weather better than anyone else. But as Billy Connolly once said, there's no such things as bad weather... only the wrong clothes. µ