Cloud Computing and the Art of Confusion

Even during a recession we never seem to have a shortage of 'the next big idea'.  And this weeks next big thing seems to be Cloud Computing.  The one tiny problem about it, is that nobody seems to know what it means.  Or perhaps more correctly, there are as many opinions as experts on this emerging topic.  So to add to the confusion let me share my views on this.

From a user perspective, cloud computing allows you to gain access to a wide range of computing services from an amorphous cloud where these services reside. From an organization perspective, cloud computing allows companies to assemble new services from a wide range of ‘capabilities’ that have been published into the ‘cloud’ by unknown suppliers.  At one level it is a brand new concept to foster rapid innovation and decision making, but at another level it is just a slight tweaking of tried and trusted computing concepts and emerging approaches such as Service Oriented Architecture. Popular wisdom tells us that it’s a service acquisition and delivery model for IT resources and, if properly used within an overall IT strategy, could help improve business performance and control the costs of delivering IT resources to the organization.

Confused... you will be!  Not because it is a complex concept, but rather because with all such new ideas, they become the bandwagon du jour that every company jumps onto.  Already suppliers and service providers alike are attaching the ‘cloud computing’ tag to everything they are doing, and in doing so are adding huge confusion to a relatively simple topic.

So my plea is for us to simplify Cloud Computing and eliminate the mystery.  Lets not make the mess of this topic that we have done with other promising approaches such as IMS and Service Delivery Platforms to name two.