What the heck’s Cloud Computing? And why should you care?
There has been a lot of buzz about cloud computing lately but what exactly is it? Everyone seems to have their own slightly different definition.
My belief is that if you draw on compute resources, be they apps or platforms, from a source you don’t own or manage and that you can scale up or down as needed and you are billed accordingly… that’s cloud computing. The biggest advantages of this as a customer are the ability to get started immediately, no software to load and maintain, expand as needed and even turn the service off if its not useful. Also because there is not a big Capex outlay to get started, you are not bogged down in approval cycles.
What do some of the experts in the field think? I went to the Rackspace customer event a couple of weeks ago to find out. (In case your wondering, Lombardi Blueprint, our cloud-based process modeling tool is hosted by Rackspace and will soon be making use of its cloud files in its next release.)
This is what I learned about the past, present and future of Cloud Computing:
- My podcast with John Engates, Rackspace CTO and John’s presentation
- My podcast with Lanham Napier, Rackspace CEO
- My podcast with Jonathan Bryce, Mosso (Rackspace’s cloud division) founder
BTW, if you don’t recognize the building in the clouds above, its the Alamo located in San Antonio where the event was held.
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3 Responses to “What the heck’s Cloud Computing? And why should you care?”
By Phil Gilbert on Nov 13, 2008 | Reply
Hi Barton,
I like the definition, generally, but am wondering about the phrase “from a source you don’t own or manage.” This would seem to preclude the notion of a company hosting its own cloud. Do you mean then that a “cloud” could never be owned by the company using that clouds services?
Certainly, the technologies of the cloud can be deployed internally, I think we could all agree on that. But this notion of whether something IS cloud computing is different, based on your definition.
Let me throw a different scenario at you.
Imagine a day when robust, performant application development can be done by end users. Further, imagine that the enabling reason for this is some very robust infrastructure… something like the telephone network except that it’s a platform for application development. But it’s hardened and scalable like never before. And because of this, end users can build their own process applications. The platform is also connected directly to a company’s legacy systems, the systems of record that “run the company,” and that therefore the company wants to own and manage the application development platform.
And finally, assume that the application developer accesses this process application development platform exactly as they would access something from “the cloud.” Services are exposed and re-used at will, data is segmented, and performance is determined using, essentially, late-binding (that is, the platforms dynamically scales at run-time).
So two questions:
Would this be cloud computing if it were sold by a vendor, priced based on usage, and managed by the vendor?
Would this be cloud computing if it were owned and managed by the end user entity itself?
Cheers,
Phil
By Barton George on Nov 17, 2008 | Reply
Hi Phil,
While there are people who talk about “internal clouds” and consider it part of cloud computing I would only consider your first scenario above (vendor sold/managed and usage-based pricing) cloud computing. This doesn’t mean that there aren’t compelling cases for bringing certain characteristics of the cloud in house I just wouldn’t consider this model cloud computing.
To me the defining benefits of cloud computing are near immediate time-to-service, low barrier to entry/exit and flexibility. When someone else owns and manages the elements of the cloud there is no large outlay of capital to get started (or dispose of) and you the end-user have the flexibility and immediacy of adding or dropping the service much the same way you can get or drop phone service at your house.
By hosting in house you may gain some in security and control but lose the elements that, in my opinion, make cloud computing, cloud computing.
Thanks,
Barton