This year's overhyped IT concept is cloud computing. Also called software as a service (SaaS), cloud computing is when you run software over the Internet and access it via a browser. Both Google Docs and salesforce.com's customer management software are examples of this.

Last week Japan's second-largest telecommunicatons carrier, KDDI Corp., announced it is using 3Tera's App Logic cloud computing platform for its services.

If you believe the hype — cloud computing is the future.