Cloud Debate 1: "It is inevitable"

After many years of germination, the core ideas at the heart of cloud computing – pay for use, multitenancy, external services appear to be resonating more strongly for more people, according to Gartner, Inc. Vice president and Gartner fellow Stephen Prentice underlines that sentiment fairly. “Cloud computing heralds an evolution of business – no less influential than the era of e-business – in positive and negative ways.”

CIOL got a chance to drill down this koan deeper during Stephen’s recent visit to India. ? Here’s how he limns the ‘world to be’.

Cloud is an area that has created unprecedented buzz like no other technology before. Does the analyst in you agree? Why this level of noise? And yet this level of hesitation?

Yes, you are right. I have never seen a trend with as much buzz as this one. In India perhaps, the level of confidence over the potential of adequately-mapped solution can be felt. Everyone is interested in the Cloud but you can’t be a follower at the cost of being left behind. Yet, the doubt is understandable. Cloud is an immature concept, may be little iterative in terms of erstwhile delivery capabilities of computing power. Security levels, skills etc are areas that add up to lack of confidence significantly.

Can hybrid clouds offer an answer?

That will be a predominant model in the future. It will need enormous levels of commitment and will be challenging too. On or off, the answer is somewhere in between depending on whatever works for you.

Honestly, do you find the argument of ‘Cloudwashing’ totally not plausible?

I won’t accuse vendors of that. Users are looking for something new in the hope to resolve problems they had in the past. They are looking for something cutting-edge, some attractive solutions. Are vendors selling something really new? May be or may be not. But it’s not fair to blame them.

Are standards a yawning gap?

It is not about standards but alternatives. People like to feel they have alternatives or back-up options.

What about the fear of good old vendor-lock-in problem with Cloud too?

It is a fear that exists in every area, be it outsourcing, products or Cloud platforms. Vendors are increasingly trying to address this area. Users are tackling this with options of open environment. Single vendor is better, alls aid and done. It is because responsibilities and roles are very clearly defined. Vendor-lock-in per se is not necessarily negative.

Any other gaps, which you will rate important? And are they being attacked?

Part of the problem is that you are selling service as an outcome. Buying and selling service is much different than for a product. Then there is no established practice about doing it. Rights and responsibilities of a service provider will naturally get resolved but at the moment people are finding a way. There’s a conundrum forced by competitive pressure to sell the same products as a service and that requires different set of skills. That will no doubt, change over time. I have not seen anything with this degree of ‘inevitability’.

Which pace and direction will the ‘inevitability’ go then?

Overall, there are very real trends toward cloud platforms and also toward massively scalable processing. Virtualization, service orientation and the Internet have converged to sponsor a phenomenon that enables individuals and businesses to choose how they’ll acquire or deliver IT services, with reduced emphasis on the constraints of traditional software and hardware licensing models.