Microsoft Seeking to Patent the Cloud?

Seen on the Slashdot Firehose: TheODP, who has a keen eye for technology patent stories, notes that Microsoft has applied for at least six patents on cloud computing concepts. Microsoft chairman Bill Gates and Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie are each named on two of the submissions. Here are links to the applications:

• Communication Link Generation In A Cloud
• Resilient Communications Between Clients Comprising A Cloud
• Rich Index To Cloud-Based Resources
• Hardware Architecture For Cloud Services
• Migrating Data To New Cloud
• Marketplace For Cloud Services Resources

Most of the patent applications were filed in September 2006, about 11 months after Ozzie’s famous memo (The Internet Services Disruption). I’m not a patent expert, but there was enough activity in cloud computing (and related terms and technologies) at that time that I gather there may be some interesting discussion about these patent applications and their potential impact.

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About Rich Miller

Rich Miller is the founder and editor-in-chief of Data Center Knowledge, and has been reporting on the data center sector since 2000. He has tracked the growing impact of high-density computing on the power and cooling of data centers, and the resulting push for improved energy efficiency in these facilities.