A peek into the internet's cutting-edge products

Amazon's cloud computing services

Amazon has been renting out its cloud-based computing capacity to start-ups, governmental agencies and firms, which is a core business and a key to its profits.

Its latest third-quarter earnings report reveals that sales in the cloud computing business has been the dominant impetus for profits for six straight fiscal quarters.

Cloud is a metaphor for the network and the Internet. Cloud computing, able to perform 10 trillion calculations per second, can simulate and predict climate changes and market trends. Users simply connect to the data center via a computer, laptop, or phone, and can run fast calculations for their own needs, which improves efficiency and prevents data loss.