Putting real-time data in the cloud is fundamentally different from what most people expect from a cloud application. The core requirements are more stringent. For example, the system needs to be able to support very high data rates. But there are other concerns as well. Mission-critical systems must be kept very secure, often requiring firewalls to be completely closed. To meet these requirements, a data-centric infrastructure is highly valuable. Many real-time systems also require redundant data paths from the source of the data to the user. And finally, for any reasonably-sized system, a real-time cloud should be able to support LAN-to-LAN connections into the cloud.
These topics are discussed in more detail in this special collection of blog postings from 2011 and 2012.
