The LAMP (Linux, Apache, Mysql, PHP) stack great for small websites
and web apps...but what happens when you need scalability? There is no
easy and cheap way to scale.

The only way to scale with the LAMP stack is to add more
servers...but...once you split each component onto a separate server
what next? If you need to scale mysql you need a cluster, if you need
to scale apache then you need a load balancer and several servers. It
all becomes expensive, time consuming and littered with problems. I
have run many sites like this...one such site had over 20 servers! I
just don't think that is is sustainable.

Over the past year I have been working with cloud computing quite a
bit. It is not easy to move a web application to a cloud computing
platform. There are heaps of technical challenges, but, each challenge
is worth overcoming because of the huge advantages.

Let me give you an example...if you want to bring publicity to your
site or service you must aspire to get it listed in slashdot, or
techcrunch or something like that. Well...how do you think you could
scale for the traffic? Simple...create a scalable architecture, host
it on Amazon EC2, and then simply "turn the knob" (so to speak) when
traffic surges. They pay for actual usage while those servers are
active, and then simply turn that knob back down when the surge
subsides. No huge investment, no servers to install in your data
center...no fuss!

Web-scale is all about huge growth. If your business is in this area
then cloud computing is your friend.