27-06-2012, 03:58 PM
CLOUD COMPUTING
CLOUD COMPUTING.pdf (Size: 433 KB / Downloads: 34)
Is It Really All That New?
If some of this sounds familiar,
it’s because, apart from the
scale, it is an almost perfect
description of the application
service provider (ASP) model
that was in vogue briefly eight
or nine years ago. ASPs, you’ll
recall, were supposed to manage
data centers and use their
expertise to run and maintain
all sorts of applications for customers, who accessed these
applications down the wire. New applications were written
or existing applications were “ASP-enabled,” and these were
either shared by multiple customers or hosted on a separate
server for each customer.
A New View From the Cloud
What’s different today is that although most of the players in
the ASP market were startups, the companies getting involved
in cloud computing are all very big. They have the resources
to build enormous data centers with the vast amounts of storage
and computing capacity required to service millions of
customers reliably. Cost of entry is high, but it will be worth
it to the likes of Google if companies can get their hands on
a sizeable proportion of the money enterprises are currently
spending on mass market applications like Office.
But they will find customers only if they can demonstrate real
benefits from taking applications from the cloud.
Worries at the Top
CIOs are not the only C-level executives worrying over the
cloud issue. “The key findings of our study showed that despite
a mandate to reduce costs, most businesses are not
adopting cloud computing even though they recognize it as
a viable option to reduce up-front and ongoing costs,” said
Larry Beck, senior director of Cloud Strategy at Avanade.
“Fear over security and loss of control of data and systems is
hindering adoption.”
There is another matter proving troublesome: regulatory
issues.
What’s in a Name?
In practice, enterprises are facing an onslaught of cloud products.
While some vendors are fudging, even outright misrepresenting,
most are not. Confusion reigns for now. “The
terminology and ontology for cloud computing is still evolving,”
said Michael Salsburg, spokesperson for the worldwide
non-profit organization, Computer Measurement Group, and
chief architect of Real-Time Infrastructures at Unisys.
Parting the Clouds
Lemkin said the number of SaaS services has mushroomed
in sync with the Web’s growth as the preferred channel to
do business. However, he warns that many SaaS services
are not truly cloud services. “While we are seeing the introduction
of strong SaaS offerings in CRM, finance, contract
management and e-signatures, what we are not seeing is the
integration of these services on the Web,” he said. “Instead
of being completely siloed, the cloud enables services to be
completely, 100 percent integrated on the Web, with no install,
no IT, and no headaches.”
CLOUD COMPUTING.pdf (Size: 433 KB / Downloads: 34)
Is It Really All That New?
If some of this sounds familiar,
it’s because, apart from the
scale, it is an almost perfect
description of the application
service provider (ASP) model
that was in vogue briefly eight
or nine years ago. ASPs, you’ll
recall, were supposed to manage
data centers and use their
expertise to run and maintain
all sorts of applications for customers, who accessed these
applications down the wire. New applications were written
or existing applications were “ASP-enabled,” and these were
either shared by multiple customers or hosted on a separate
server for each customer.
A New View From the Cloud
What’s different today is that although most of the players in
the ASP market were startups, the companies getting involved
in cloud computing are all very big. They have the resources
to build enormous data centers with the vast amounts of storage
and computing capacity required to service millions of
customers reliably. Cost of entry is high, but it will be worth
it to the likes of Google if companies can get their hands on
a sizeable proportion of the money enterprises are currently
spending on mass market applications like Office.
But they will find customers only if they can demonstrate real
benefits from taking applications from the cloud.
Worries at the Top
CIOs are not the only C-level executives worrying over the
cloud issue. “The key findings of our study showed that despite
a mandate to reduce costs, most businesses are not
adopting cloud computing even though they recognize it as
a viable option to reduce up-front and ongoing costs,” said
Larry Beck, senior director of Cloud Strategy at Avanade.
“Fear over security and loss of control of data and systems is
hindering adoption.”
There is another matter proving troublesome: regulatory
issues.
What’s in a Name?
In practice, enterprises are facing an onslaught of cloud products.
While some vendors are fudging, even outright misrepresenting,
most are not. Confusion reigns for now. “The
terminology and ontology for cloud computing is still evolving,”
said Michael Salsburg, spokesperson for the worldwide
non-profit organization, Computer Measurement Group, and
chief architect of Real-Time Infrastructures at Unisys.
Parting the Clouds
Lemkin said the number of SaaS services has mushroomed
in sync with the Web’s growth as the preferred channel to
do business. However, he warns that many SaaS services
are not truly cloud services. “While we are seeing the introduction
of strong SaaS offerings in CRM, finance, contract
management and e-signatures, what we are not seeing is the
integration of these services on the Web,” he said. “Instead
of being completely siloed, the cloud enables services to be
completely, 100 percent integrated on the Web, with no install,
no IT, and no headaches.”