Vendors must help with confusion over cloud computing

IT pros are apparently confused by the cloud, and the different ways IT services providers view it isn't helping.

By Miya Knights, 10 Aug 2009 at 12:42

There’s been a lot of talk about cloud computing, its development and potential benefits and pitfalls. So it’s not surprising that many IT professionals don’t yet fully understand what it might mean to them.

The latest research to suggest this found nearly half of a sample of UK public and private sector IT professionals didn’t even know what cloud computing is.

That's no surprise, as definitions vary widely, from internet-based computing or software-as-a-service (SaaS) to outsourcing, on-demand, managed or hosted services.

Despite this, IT vendors and service providers are continuing to invest in cloud computing offerings at an impressive pace, according to analyst and consulting firm, Ovum. Principle analyst John Madden said that despite the hype, cloud computing still dominates discussions among enterprise IT customers.

End users, it seems, are at least clearer about their interest in the cloud, “as they look for better and more cost-effective ways to operate and deliver IT services,” he added, admitting that “cloud-based services hold great promise for customers and the vendors that offer them”.

But Madden also warned: “For the vast majority of enterprise customers there is still far too much hype surrounding what constitutes a cloud, the kind of services that can be delivered and how those will ultimately evolve.”

So, while definitions may be still be hazy, the analyst said it was no wonder that, in uncertain economic times, the promise of variable costs, reduced capital expenditure and dynamic scaling of IT resource collected under a general ‘cloud computing’ banner was proving popular.

“From talking to CIOs [chief information officers], they want to know what cloud computing means to them and what it’s going to do for them,” explained Chris Lindsay, BT business applications general manager. “They are looking for someone to take them through the whole process.”

A little help, then?

So what exactly is the cloud, and how can it be used in enterprise in its different variations?

Lindsay said BT defines the cloud by the service it delivers: “By segmenting our offerings according to whether they are software, platforms or infrastructure-as-a-service [SaaS, PaaS or IaaS].”

This, he added, allowed BT to have a tangible view of each, where each was in a different phase of the development maturity lifecycle.

Ben Pring, research vice president for Gartner echoed BT’s “as a service” view of the cloud.

But in Gartner’s view, cloud computing should enable the transfer of traditional IT operations to an outsourced, direct purchase model. He said systems infrastructure delivered as a service is still in its early stages and likely to account for six per cent of the market or $3.2 billion (£1.9 billion) this year.

But Pring also predicted: “Cloud-based infrastructure services are expected to see significant adoption through 2013. This segment probably has the largest range of possible outcomes, depending on how aggressively cloud computing is embraced by the major outsourcing vendors and their customers.”

A bigger part of the current market is free at point of use, with revenue derived from advertising.

“Services supported by advertising are currently, and will remain, the largest component of the overall cloud services market through 2013,” Pring said.

Lindsay from BT suggested the development of cloud infrastructure services was a natural extension of existing hosted offerings.

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3 comments

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Enterprise-grade Cloud Computing

For years the CIO has had to balance asset ownership with providing flexibility and innovation to the organisation. Enterprise cloud computing is now enabling that balance to tip in favour of cost-efficiency and innovation. From a service provider’s perspective, owning dynamically assignable assets in the form of infrastructure, data centres and especially network gives us clear long-term advantage. Customers can be sure their critical data and applications are secure in our data centres. Ownership of the network also allows us to provide end-to-end management capabilities second to none – and we can deliver customer-specific, relevant, end-to-end service level agreements. By offering reliability and high-end performance COLT’s services provide European businesses with a strong competitive advantage. We believe technology should be an enabler to success and should work seamlessly in the background to allow our customers to get on and do what they do best – run their business.

By Ip_philipphaberl on Wednesday Aug 19

Cloud Computing insecure and costly in mobility scenarios

Clound computing might be considered insecure since most companies consider all data without exception to be proprietry or subject to data protection legislation and outsourcing would essentially require that such data be stored offsite to comply with the concept where an outsourced solution is used. Many companies these days require a certain amount of portability and mobility, hence the use of laptops however to facilitate the use of cloud computing for these users would require costly mobile internet access links and potentially reduce mobility Cloud Computing may pander to the paranoic and control freak tendencies of senior management, but it would leave companies open to more serious security breaches by third parties, reduce the effectiveness of mobile staff struggling to work over restrictive internet links, and radically increase the operating costs to connect all the staff to the internet. It also implies a lack of trust towards staff and could inhibit creativity.

By Hitman101 on Wednesday Sep 9

Attractive Cloud

Cloud based application have been very useful and is progressing in the industry also well. Companies like this are exploring more and more on this : http://bygsoft.wordpress.com/2010/01/09/cloudy-combo-google-app-engine-and-amazon-s3-combo-pack/

By Leitner on Thursday Jan 21