The list of companies coming out with cloud computing services reads like a who's who of tech behemoths, as I blogged earlier this month. HP, check. IBM, check. Microsoft, check. And then there's Dell, Amazon and Google.

Yet the little guys -- companies like Mountain View, Calif.-based Enki -- may enjoy an early advantage, reports Forbes. Founded in August, 2006, Enki has fewer than 10 employees and about 80 servers. Twenty clients pay Enki monthly fees to look after their data for them. CEO Dave Durkee says the company's revenues have doubled every six months.

In contrast, notes Forbes, the giants are "treating utility computing services as side projects or experiments. " The earliest customers for cloud computing services will likely be SMBs rather than enterprises, writes Nicholas Carr in his new book about the concept, "The Big Switch." They may be more comfortable working with other small companies like Enki.

Forrester Research analyst James Staten calls cloud computing "classic disruptive innovation where the mainstream dismisses the product and small companies have time to create a real differentiated value."