In the field of cloud computing, topics such as computing resource virtualization, differences between grid and cloud computing, relationship between high-performance computers and cloud computing centers, and cloud security and standards have attracted much research interest. This paper analyzes these topics and highlights that resource virtualization allows information services to be scalable, intensive, and specialized; grid computing involves using many computers for large-scale computing tasks, while cloud computing uses one platform for multiple services; high-performance computers may not be suitable for a cloud computing; security in cloud computing focuses on trust management between service suppliers and users; and based on the existing standards, standardization of cloud computing should focus on interoperability between services