Will cloud computing replace shared hosting?

Cloud computing is quickly gaining traction in the corporate world, and, according to cloud computing manager Emil Sayegh, it could drive shared web hosts out of business:

Over the next for five years, shared hosting as we know it will be made obsolete by the cloud. I firmly believe it. What we need to think about is an environment in which cloud computing and dedicated servers coexist.

Cloud computing is great in that it only charges users for the server power they use. That’s why rapidly expanding companies with unpredictable IT needs love it. But the truth is, the average hosting customer’s needs are very predictable.

A typical shared hosting user probably only utilizes 500 MB of space at most and under 3 GB of bandwidth a month. Hosting companies know what to expect from their users and most website traffic rarely fluctuates enough to take advantage of cloud computing features.

Sayegh is trying to solve a problem that doesn’t exist. I think introducing the cloud to a shared hosting environment would simply add too much complexity and I don’t see it being adopted en masse by hosts any time soon.