That high price, of course, is that once its systems operate on the cloud, the company loses its ability to control its own computing capabilities and has the unintended, but nonetheless painful result of suffering security problems and diminished service quality that makes the company wish that it had never taken the fateful step of putting its computing on the cloud.

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Forrester's Tom Gormley argues that such service providers could become the utilities of the next century, providing an essential service with all the reliability and security of the electricity or telephone company.

ECONOMIST: Computer outsourcing

Mr. Heins said the company is looking at a number of options to replace that revenue, from licensing the company's popular BlackBerry Messenger service, to leveraging advanced security and business-focused offerings.

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