The “Perfect Storm”, seeding the Clouds……

Recently, I made reference to SUN Microsystem’s old tag line-“The network is the computer”. John Gage, one of Sun’s early employees, coined that phrase in effect predicting Cloud Computing. (see PC World’s article, “SUN’s History in Pictures” for more information here)

While the “network” (the internet) is indeed the computer as Gage predicted, there are some other important parts that have come together, in this “perfect digital storm” to enable this phenomenon. Let’s take a look at a few of them.

1) Ubiquitous broadband-broadband internet access is almost everywhere, fairly inexpensive, and accessible to many people.

2) Cheap, powerful, hardware– Moore’s law is living up to it’s promise-hardware is getting much more powerful, memory and other components are very inexpensive and PCs are more capable than ever.

3) Virtualization technology-server and application virtualization are exploding all over the world. Cheap, powerful hardware coupled with the ability to create virtual servers and applications are being deployed.

4) Security-even though there are new challenges, security is getting better which enables new applications and services.

5) Web 2.0-The growth in capability and popularity of the Web 2.0/internet-web services and web 2.0 technology have exploded in recent years making on line experiences rich and effective. Look at the rise of social network tools as an example.

6) New Business models-Saas (software as a Service) is being adopted and developed as a real business service, setting up adoption of Cloud capabilities.

7) Open source tools and platforms, in my opinion, this helps foster collaboration and standardization much faster making moire capabilities available.

I leave you with this quote which I think encapsulates this Perfect Storm eloquently:  “The rise of the cloud is more than just another platform shift that gets geeks excited. It will undoubtedly transform the IT industry, but it will also profoundly change the way people work and companies operate.” —The Economist, “Let it Rise,” 10/23/08

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In and Out of the Cloud…….near the “Bleeding Edge”

If there is one “IT” (pun intended) Technology Trend that is generating lots of buzz these days, it is certainly Cloud Computing. If you ask a handful of people to “explain” their ideas of what Cloud Computing is, you will get many different answers, usually incorporating similar ideas.

Wikipedia says; “Cloud computing is a style of computing in which dynamically scalable and often virtualised resources are provided as a service over the Internet. Users need not have knowledge of, expertise in, or control over the technology infrastructure “in the cloud” that supports them.

The term cloud is used as a metaphor for the Internet, based on how the Internet is depicted in computer network diagrams, and is an abstraction for the complex infrastructure it conceals.  

Generally, the ideas of “Infrastructure as a Service”, “Platform as a Service”, “Software as a Service” and “Web 2.o” technology trends that have a common theme  of reliance on the Internet for satisfying the computing needs of the users makes a whole lot of sense to me. 

As a new “technology platform” there are many moving parts, changing standards, new technologies being implemented and many vendors/service providers entering the market.  Personally, I see much promise in this technology.  Many I have spoken too see much promise as well.

Many companies are investigating how to utilize these tools and services to reduce costs while improving application development and deployment services.  Many more are thinking about how this will impact their business, their customers and their future.

A few years ago, Sun Microsystems was one model of “Utility Computing”.  Their old tag line, “The network is the computer” seems to be getting closer to reality.  This Cloud Computing model seems to better support the new global economy and workforce.

Yes, there are many technical and business model challenges to be worked out.  Among those are Security, Reliability, Scalability and Sustainability. Like most new technology trends, early adopters and first movers have an edge.  I also feel strongly there is always room for innovators and transformers that will always build a better mousetrap.

Either way, I think this style of Computing will be around for quite a while and may be a game changer.

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