The use of cloud-based applications and IT infrastructure services also tends to be popular and broad among technology startups, which say that it has allowed them to keep purchasing and maintenance costs down, while letting them focus on developing their unique commercial products.

Box.net, a provider of hosted content management, collaboration and file sharing applications, had until recently only one person devoted exclusively to IT matters -- supporting 150 employees -- thanks to its liberal and savvy use of cloud-based applications and infrastructure services.

"I'm working on things I would have never worked on before if we didn't have this cloud infrastructure. I'd be doing repetitive maintenance tasks," said Jeff Sutton, Box.net's IT lead, and until recently the company's only IT staffer. The company just hired a second IT professional.

For example, Sutton is in charge of the company's internal application development environment, and of a VMware project. "There are a lot more things I have bandwidth to do. It gives me more time to focus on new technologies," he said.