The take-up of Cloud Computing is one of the most controversial developments within the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the last years. While its proponents argue with cost, security and technological advances that will result in more innovation and growth, its opponents argue the opposite way. Therefore the aim of this report is to lay the foundations for the overall project examing the challenges, impacts and benefits of Cloud Computing. This includes: ...to analyse the basic concepts (incl. definitions, characteristics etc.) as well as the evolution of the concept (incl. predecessors and related concepts) and the underlying technologies; to review the market situation (incl. on overview of offered services and existing providers) and to analyse the adoption and usage patterns of Cloud Computing; ...to identify driving factors and barriers based on existing literature as well as an initial assessment of indentified factors.