IBM has announced new services aimed at helping businesses take advantage of cloud computing. And small- and midsize-business owners that have been thinking about making the leap to the cloud will be most interested in the industry-specific consulting service that assesses the cost of building a cloud.IBM's new services include:

IBM thinks smaller companies should be interested in cloud computing since they may want to grow and expand without their infrastructures becoming too complex and expensive to maintain. According to IBM, cloud computing can save customers up to 80 percent on floor space and 60 percent on power and cooling costs.

While IBM cites its approach to cloud computing with a variety of enterprise environments, is it on track with meeting smaller businesses' needs? Earlier this month, Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO of Salesforce.com, said, "Cloud computing offers democratization -- traditionally, small, medium, and large companies have different types of solutions, but cloud computing can offer solutions to all of them."

IBM's new services seem to be aimed at pushing companies onto the cloud, but growing companies would still be wise to consider their own situation. While cloud computing can give companies a lot of power for a low price and with not a lot of resources, as we've stated before, with all the hype about cloud computing, a backlash is inevitable.

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The launch of IBM's new services is the most recent time the company has been in the cloud -- last month it launched Lotus Notes Hosted Messaging, a SaaS version of IBM's e-mail offering. Just before that IBM released the Bluehouse suite of hosted online technologies, which allows businesses to share documents and contacts, engage in joint project activities, host online meetings, and build social-networking communities via the cloud. And in August IBM invested $300 million in constructing Business Resilience centers around the world to enable customers to access business continuity services from the cloud.