For the past couple of months, I have been tasked with investigating some Green IT initiatives for a client.  This has involved many different aspects from looking at SAN solutions, virtualisation, data centre optimisation and more.  During this process, many different light bulbs went off in my head.  At the end of it all, one question arose in conjunction with an opportunity, and an eventuality.  

 With data centre space becoming more valuable than real estate, coupled with the advances in virtualisation, there lies an opportunity for someone to enter the market that will completely transform how consumers and companies use computers.  It is feasible as of this moment, that someone could set up a significant virtual environment in a data centre and begin selling virtual pc's and servers.  Consumers connect to their own virtual pc or server via their thin client or web interface.  No computer to carry around.  No way to lose your data or have your pc stolen.  Ecological nirvana.  It just takes a major shift in mindset.

 With these advances in technology and bandwidth, hardware should start to see the end of its usefullnes over the next 10 years, possibly sooner.  We would like to hear your thoughts on where the hardware game is going and whether you see the virtual realm as a feasible business model for new systems.