Apr 19th, 2009 |
When you’ve been around this industry for a while you’ve seen more “next great things” than you can shake a Memory Stick at. Some of them pan out to be at least very good things (wireless networking) while others never really live up to the initial hype (residential ISDN, anyone?). Cloud computing has long seemed a good idea, and we’re seeing signs that it is going to be far more than a passing fad. I’ve been using a number of personal-productivity cloud apps for a while, since they make life much easier when you’re collaborating with far-flung partners and frequently moving between computers. It was still eye-opening, though, when my web hosting provider started offering integration with Amazon’s cloud storage facilities.
Cloud computing will, I think, become one of those things like getting email on your smart phone that takes root in individual applications and quickly becomes an enterprise staple. The question for most business IT managers is how to move from self-hosted virtualization to a cloud infrastructure, or whether they should bypass the self-hosted virtualization step entirely and go straight to the cloud. This is one of those great subjects on which there’s no single, simple answer and no “one size fits all” solution that’s available.
I’m continuing to try cloud applications on a small scale, and I’ve begun studying the larger-enterprise policy and infrastructure implications in a more structured way. I’m looking forward to meeting managers who have begun rolling out their own cloud applications when I’m in Las Vegas — I’m also planning to hit at least part of the Cloud Computing Track in the Interop conference. I think that the session on cloud’s impact on network infrastructure will be interesting, as will a session asking the basic question of whether you should own your next data center. If you’re looking for the big picture view of cloud computing, you’ll be hard-pressed to do better than the panel discussions that open each day of the cloud computing track on Wednesday and Thursday.
Is cloud computing on your radar screen? What are you hoping to learn about the cloud at Interop? Let us (and our blog’s readers) know — maybe someone can chime in to get your conference off on a more productive foot.
[...] Notebook HEM placed an observative post today on A Cloudy Future?Here’s a quick excerpt…one of those things like getting email on your smart phone that takes root in individual applications and quickly becomes an enterprise staple. [...]
Curt - you may want to check out => http://www.cloudstoragestrategy.com
it’s a brave new world in the Cloud!
[...] Not here, obviously, but over at the Inside Interop blog. This week, I’ve had posts on cloud computing, data center air-conditioning, print servers, as well as the popular weekend wrap-up post. In [...]