After years of speculation and forecasts by industry analysts, the cloud computing era has arrived, according to the National Inflation Association, which predicts that by 2013, the cloud computing boom could surpass the dot-com boom of the early 2000s.

Cloud computing, which has started to become widely adopted worldwide, is currently a $74 billion industry that accounts for 3 percent of global IT spending, but in 2013 cloud computing is expected to become a $150 billion market, according to the NIA.

Cloud computing is expected to create 14 million new jobs globally by year 2015. In the consumer space, Gartner is predicting that cloud services will be on 90 percent of personal consumer devices by year 2015 so that consumers can store, connect, stream, and synchronize content across multiple platforms at different locations.

The NIA reviewed recent successful IPOs in 2012 that have put cloud computing on the map – NIA predicts that these cloud computing stocks have the biggest upside potential for 2012 and beyond:

Demandware went public last week at $16 per share, which was above its projected $12.50 to $14.50 pricing range, and finished the week up 69 percent to $17.50.

Guidewire Software went public in January at $13 per share, which was above its projected $10 to $12 pricing range, and has risen in 8 of the past 9 trading days to finish yesterday at $33.04 for a gain of 154 percent since its IPO.

Brightcove Inc. went public in February at $11 per share and finished last week at $21.12 for a gain of 92 percent.

Cloud computing is clearly not just one of the biggest hot button terms of the year. The cloud movement is coming into its own as more companies, including free call centers, adopt cloud-based services and new players continue to emerge in the industry, TechZone360 reported.

Cloud-based technologies have significantly impacted call centers over the past five years. The number of cloud providers increased ten-fold in the last two years alone, according to Fred Côté, president of Kunnect, a provider of a free, cloud-based call center solution.

In a recent blog post, Côté outlined some of the defining trends in cloud computing and free call center solutions for this year. The year 2012, as he says, will be the “start of an era that will prompt significant change to cloud-based technologies.”

Click here to read about some of the big changes the IT and outsourcing industries will see this year.