Cloud computing may be the most overhyped information technology term in recent memory, surpassed only by the ubiquitous Web 2.0 moniker.As a venture capitalist focused on investing in the infrastructure and platform-as-a-service segments of the cloud, this hype has prompted a slew of startups to flood my inbox, all claiming to be the revenue-generating equivalent of Google or Facebook for cloud computing.And why not? In this environment, leveraging the cloud tag makes a lot of sense when speaking to a VC.But not everything in IT is a cloud.

Case in point: a business plan sent to our firm from a startup claiming to be a purveyor of human-powered vehicles, with a cloud-based infrastructure.Sorry, but a bicycle shop with a web site is not a cloud startup.But while startups using the cloud term to get my attention are amusing, marketing departments of large technology and infrastructure companies that do the same are both annoying and ingenious. Annoying because for those of us who think we understand the technical definition of the cloud, the reality distortion field that these companies are trying to overlay in order to attract enterprise IT buyers is easy to see.That, however, is also why they’re ingenious.

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