Cloud Computing Use Cases Whitepaper

Version 1 published July 31st 2009.

Link to Scribd version

The Cloud Computing Use Case group brought together cloud consumers and cloud vendors to define common use case scenarios for cloud computing. The use case scenarios demonstrate the performance and economic benefits of cloud computing and are based on the needs of the widest possible range of consumers.

The goal of this white paper is to highlight the capabilities and requirements that need to be standardized in a cloud environment to ensure interoperability, ease of integration and portability. It must be possible to implement all of the use cases described in this paper without using closed, proprietary technologies. Cloud computing must evolve as an open environment, minimizing vendor lock-in and increasing customer choice.

Kevin
ZeroTouch IT Ltd

Who says the Government are Technology Laggards?

The US Federal Government has plans to offer both Software as a Service for government agencies and a cloud-based platform for agencies to develop, test and deploy new applications.

NASA has also been experimenting with Cloud Computing.

If the US Government can start to use Cloud Computing then there should be no reason Enterprises can't consider it as a new resourcing option. There's an awful lot of scare mongering still going around - particularly in relation to security and integration. Granted, whether these are perceptions or reality they need to be addressed. However, these are relative problems which may not be an issue depending on what you are doing.

I think of this as like the Movie Critic in the newspaper. How many times have you seen a film review which said the movie was terrible, when in fact it was fantastic when you saw it? The key point here is that the film critic's opinion is just that, their opinion. Make up your own mind. The same applies to technology - especially for the more innovative / new stuff. There is always going to be people telling you the 10,000 reasons you shouldn't use it. What are the 3 reasons you should?

Make up your own mind.

Kevin
ZeroTouch IT Ltd

Elasticity, Performance, and Analytics will change role of Web Operations

Nice short video (about 6 mins) from Alistair Croll on why elasticity, performance, and analytics will change how Web Operations are judged.

View original Bitcurrent post

Kevin
ZeroTouch IT Ltd

Why Cloud Computing Matters

Excellent talk from Simon Wardley on why Cloud Computing matters. Worth spending 15 minutes looking at this. Simon presented this at O'Reilly OSCON (Open Source Convention) in July 2009.

Click to view video (YouTube)

Kevin
ZeroTouch IT Ltd

Conventional wisdom is wrong about Cloud IaaS

Forrester research released an interesting piece of research in May 2009 which debunks some conventional thinking about who will or will not utilise Cloud Computing.

Forrester: Conventional wisdom is wrong about Cloud IaaS

From the report extract:

Survey results confirm strong interest in cloud infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) but debunk several stereotypes. Large firms are more interested in cloud IaaS than small firms. Firms are interested in cloud services slightly more than internal cloud, not, as conventional wisdom has it, much less than internal cloud. Firms are equally comfortable with all major workload types in the cloud and are almost as comfortable with production apps as they are with test and development usage. For all vendor strategists, this means focusing on enterprise and SMB both, not leading with SMB, while product vendor strategists also need to develop different messages for enabling internal cloud versus supporting use of external service providers.

I've read the full report and it brings up some interesting thoughts:

• The report stated that only about 1/3 of the participants were "not interested in cloud computing". That means 2/3's are!
  
• Something is obviously driving these users towards the adoption of Cloud Computing -- my own thoughts about current IT depts and Channel vendors are being proven true - there is clear dissatisfaction among end-user organisations about how IT is currently delivered as well as the associated costs.
• It would seem end-users are much less conservative than expected. Conventional thinking is that enterprises will start with development and test environments in the Cloud and maybe consider production systems in the future. According to this report, that isn't true -- over 1/3 of large and medium sized enterprise companies are ready to put enterprise apps into production in public Cloud environments.
• The Big Switch is happening and both IT departments and the Channel vendors need to adapt and fast -- (disclosure: my own firm ZeroTouch helps both IT depts and IT Service Providers to make these changes)
  

Kevin
ZeroTouch IT Ltd

Three debates that will benefit cloud computing

Another brilliant "cut through the fog" article by James Urquhart.

Three debates that will benefit cloud computing

Kevin
ZeroTouch IT Ltd

Is Cloud Computing really something new? Who cares...

A lot of the detractors of Cloud Computing say it's nothing new. We've had mainframe timeshares for decades, we've had Bureau computing services, we've basically had loads of technologies and solutions which did similar things.

So why is everybody so excited (or threatened) by Cloud Computing?

I read a thought provoking article recently which compared the maturity of Cloud Computing to the iPhone. Huh? Exactly, huh? Definitely worth a read because effectively both the iPhone and Cloud Computing are nothing new from one perspective - some of the technologies have been around in other products / services / guises for ages, but from another perspective, they make technology disappear! This is when technology starts to become seriously useful - when you stop thinking about it and it doesn't get in the way. When you make a mobile phone call you don't think about all the technology in the handset, wireless network, billing systems and numerous other systems required to make it all work. You just think about calling your friend, wife, husband, order pizza etc. The technology has disappeared.

Cloud Maturity: Just Like the iPhone, There's an App for that...

...Whilst I have often grouped Cloud Computing with the consumerization of IT (and the iPhone as it’s most visible example) together in concert in my disruptive innovation presentations, I never really thought of them as metaphors for one another.

When you think of it, it’s really a perfect visual.

The iPhone is a fantastic platform that transforms using technology that has been around for quite a while into a more useful experience. The iPhone converges many technologies and capabilities under a single umbrella and changes the way in which people interact with their data and other people...

So what about the Cloud?

The point here is that Cloud is very much like the iPhone. As Sir James (Urquhart) says “Cloud isn’t a technology, it’s an operational model.” Just like the iPhone.

Kevin
ZeroTouch IT Ltd