With interest in cloud computing at an all-time high, we have
to wonder if this concept is truly revolutionary or simply the logical
next step of trends that started decades ago.
As someone who’s been in the industry for awhile, I can
remember a time when even a technology-dependent institution like NASA
simply didn’t have the processing power it required for all the complex
calculations needed for the early days of the U.S. space program. It
had to borrow this processing power from local universities and other
institutions.
Fast forward to today, and we’re still finding ourselves
wanting to have greater accessand availability of IT resources at lower
operating costs. Only now, wedon’t just need these resources to launch
rockets; rather they are being used for everyday operations by everyday
users.
So while there is an enormous amount of hype surrounding cloud
computing,certainly more than for any technology in a long time, it’s
hardly a flash in the pan, and I do think cloud services will become
more and more prevalent in the future.
Reaching for the Clouds
Many of us are already using cloud services and don’t even realize
it.Customers of Salesforce.com’s CRM platform already know the benefits
of a “virtual software” approach, and other companies using outsourced
applications have already reached for the clouds. But cloud has the
potential to provide so much more if we can get past the hype and look
at the real issues, challenges and potential problems that need to be
addressed before it can truly be a ubiquitous and beneficial computing
tool.
The beauty of cloud is you don’t have to be NASA or another
huge enterprise to take advantage of what it offers. Cloud allows
businesses of any size to have the flexibility to scale up on the fly,
which is hugely important for smaller companies that simply don’t have
the money to invest heavily in IT resources. Instead of the investment
model that says you have to double your costs to achieve the next level
of scalability, with cloud it’s much more linear. So you can invest
maybe$10 for one computing unit, or $1,000 for 100 units, and so on.
It means you can start small without any huge fuss, and as
your business grows you can add more computing power or storage to
accommodate your increased requirements.
While the threshold for entry is set quite low, making cloud
services affordable and accessible to all, I imagine many larger
enterprises will embrace the virtualized world of the cloud but play it
closer to the vest. The notion of private cloud stakes the general
concept of cloud computing but limiting accessibility to within the
company. So a huge company might want to set up a centralized data
center with all software, processing power and storage in a single
location and IT departments from across the enterprise could get
whatever resources they needed without having to worry about security.
Securing and Managing the Cloud
It should come as no surprise that security is the 800-pound gorilla in
the room of cloud services for the larger companies, hence the great
interest in private clouds. For smaller firms, security may not be as
big an issue because a cloud provider – be it Amazon, BT, Google, IBM
or someone else – will more than likely be able to provide at least as
much security as what the customer could provide themselves.
But for the larger companies – especially those in sensitive
areas such as government, defense, financial services or even health
care – security will be the primary reason why they shell out to create
their own private cloud infrastructure.
Along with security, there are loads of other reasons why
large companies would look closely at private clouds: governance,
management and data application portability for starters. Those lucky
enough to be able to roll their own clouds won’t have to be as bogged
down in these critical issues as the small and mid-size firms that will
contract with a third party for cloud services.
For example, if you decide to throw your lot into the cloud
and your business blossoms, and along the way you find your cloud
provider simply isn’t living up to your expectations, how easy will it
be to get your data out and then have it transferred to another
provider or brought in-house? Other serious questions revolve around
how cloud services will be run and managed and how those services will
be metered or monitored.
These are not small concerns, but rather genuine fears that a
lot of enterprises are voicing as cloud services become more popular.
Keeping Our Head in the Clouds
As you can imagine, when any new technology concept comes down the
pike, TM Forum stands ready to engage it, and if required do what ever
we can to make the technology truly usable for our members and for the
community at large.
With cloud computing promising to be the biggest thing in the
technology world since the invention of the word processor, you can bet
we are going to be front and center in areas where we excel, such as
managing cloud services; developing and adopting standards; bringing
together all players in the value chain; creating a viable marketplace;
removing the barriers to growth; creating a platform where buyers and
sellers of cloud services can cooperate; accelerating agreements on
cloud service components and processes and achieving transparency of
product features, service levels, metrics and benchmarks.
But none of this will come easy. We, as well as our members
and industry partners,will need to seriously roll up our sleeves if
cloud services are to get off the hype meter and join the mainstream.
At Management World Americas
in Orlando this December, we’re hosting an executive round table on
cloud, and cloud will be a hot topic among our conference sessions.
Join us to learn all about this industry-changing technology and be
part of the effort to make cloud services live up to their potential
and not be just another fad that quickly fades from the scene.