| This seems like an odd question to ask since you | | | | distinct from the typical IT network. In other words |
| probably already have some concept of "the cloud." | | | | within "the cloud" there is an architectural attempt to |
| However, given some of the conversations I have | | | | build for scale. Most cloud offerings are going to be |
| been having recently, I think there's a good deal of | | | | based upon scalability. The truth is that if you plan to |
| cloudy thinking about cloud computing. | | | | have a very large data center and you organize its |
| So here is the gist of what the cloud is (imho) | | | | use so that most of the workloads are very similar, |
| summed up for you in a set of bullet points: | | | | or better, identical, then you will achieve significant |
| | | | economies of scale. You will then be able to offer |
| 1. "Cloud Computing" is currently a marketing term. | | | | the service at prices that undercut the customer's |
| And that's why I'm writing this; to divorce the use of | | | | costs of running the application in-house. The more |
| Cloud Computing, the marketing term, from the use | | | | customers you achieve the better the cost |
| of Cloud Computing as an architectural idea. Marketing | | | | advantage. |
| terms don't have to conform to precise definition. | | | | 6. Cloud Computing Is Not Outsourcing The typical |
| They get used, then abused, then severely exploited | | | | corporate data center is not a cloud and will never |
| and finally, as their bandwagon grinds to a halt, they | | | | become one. Its workloads are mixed the platforms |
| get pitched onto the sorry stack of broken buzz | | | | they run on are mixed - the whole technology stack |
| words. That's what happened to "eBusiness", "Web | | | | is mixed. That means you cannot transform the |
| Services", "On Demand" and so on. Until the recession | | | | whole data center into a cloud operation. However, |
| began in earnest Cloud Computing was a reasonably | | | | you can outsource it. |
| sane marketing term. That's now changing because, | | | | 7. Are There Any Clouds Computing Standards? Not |
| in the minds of the IT audience, the cost of cloud | | | | really, or perhaps better to say "not yet." In general |
| computing is lower. That makes cloud the hype-word | | | | cloud computing infrastructure is built on servers that |
| du jour. | | | | employ virtualization technology to deliver efficient |
| 2. Cloud Computing is NOT SaaS (Software As A | | | | resource utilization and typically, abide by open |
| Service). I'm making this point because some | | | | standards and, for the sake of economy, use open |
| commentators have been equating these two ideas | | | | source software extensively. There is an organization |
| as if they were identical. SaaS is healthy terminology. | | | | formed by a group of universities, called the Open |
| SaaS is out-hosted software that you can access | | | | Cloud Consortium (OCC), which is promoting open |
| directly. Although you might not think of it as such, | | | | frameworks that will let clouds operated by different |
| your electronic banking capability is SaaS - you just | | | | organizations work together seamlessly. |
| don't pay for it directly. As such electronic banking is | | | | 8. Is there Such A Thing As An Internal Cloud? Again, |
| no different to Zoho or Google Apps. However, | | | | not really, or perhaps better said "not yet." There is |
| electronic banking is definitely not Cloud Computing, | | | | sense in organizations creating "domains" within their |
| no matter how much you stretch the definition. | | | | own networks that are built on cloud-type |
| 3. Cloud Computing Is Not About Emulating Google It | | | | architectures, especially if they have applications that |
| looks suspiciously like the initial enthusiasm for cloud | | | | may need to scale over time. If cloud standards |
| computing as a technology strategy was prompted | | | | existed then such domains could be thought of as |
| by Google envy. Google was doing something | | | | Internal Clouds. They would become staging areas |
| unprecedented in building huge data centers to | | | | for possibly moving internal applications into the cloud, |
| support its business. It was clearly a fact that | | | | or if the organization has its own software that it |
| Google's operation was highly efficient and some | | | | intends to offer as a service, then such a domain |
| CIOs mused about whether they could emulate | | | | could become the platform for providing that service. |
| Google. Actually there was no chance, because | | | | 9. Is Cloud Computing Anything To Do With Web |
| Google's business was defined by just two | | | | 2.0? No nothing at all. But you can make the |
| uncommon transactions: searching the web and | | | | connection if you want to. Many web sites that are |
| placing adverts. Google designed a huge massively | | | | said to be Web 2.0, primarily because they are social |
| parallel operation using computer servers and | | | | networking sites, have had to scale up dramatically |
| switches they built themselves within an architecture | | | | when their user population shot into the millions. |
| that was optimized for precisely that workload. You | | | | Because of that they have had to adopt highly |
| can't emulate that unless, like some social networking | | | | scalable architectures (or die). Because they have |
| sites, you have a small variety but very large | | | | such architectures they may be in a good position to |
| numbers of transactions. As you might expect, some | | | | offer some services to users in the manner of cloud |
| social networking sites have emulated Google. | | | | computing. |
| 4. Cloud Computing Is About Technology Stacks | | | | 10. Do Clouds Offer Guaranteed Service Levels? The |
| Cloud computing is about technology stacks in the | | | | answer to this is "yes" or at least it should be, and in |
| same way that the ISP business is about technology | | | | the future it surely will be. We have to exclude free |
| stacks. In general ISP deliver a consistent service to | | | | services, like Yahoo Mail and many of Google's |
| the myriads of web sites they host by employing a | | | | services, which can be described as Cloud Computing |
| standard technology stack, most commonly, the | | | | from most perspectives, because a free service is |
| LAMP (Linux Apache, MySQL, PHP) stack. This means | | | | never going to offer guarantees (even if it makes an |
| that management effort is minimal because everyone | | | | excellent living from adverts.) But Cloud Computing |
| is running the same application (a web site) with the | | | | will ultimately be defined, from the user's perspective, |
| same technolgy (LAMP) and, where customers do | | | | by service levels and the nature of the service itself. |
| have problems, they will normally be the same issues | | | | If Cloud Computing Services are well defined in that |
| cropping up time and again. | | | | way, then it becomes possible to compare such |
| 5. Cloud Computing Is About Economies of Scale The | | | | services with the cost of providing a similar capability |
| only thing that everyone seems to agree upon about | | | | from your own data center - as long as the Cloud |
| Cloud Computing is that it is constructed for scale | | | | Computing provider is transparent in providing details |
| and that it is hosted on a set of resources that are | | | | of the technology that it deploys. |