Will cloud computing change how IT works today?

By Steven Warren in The Enterprise Cloud, February 22, 2009, 1:04 PM PST

More and more companies will see value in allowing companies that are better suited to handle their infrastructure, while they just plug and play their data into that infrastructure backbone. If you haven't guessed, it is the birth of cloud computing.

Unless you’ve been sleeping this past year, you've heard about cloud computing. It seems as if many companies are looking at this heavily for the future. Companies such as VMware seem to be staking their future on it.

Here is my understanding on how cloud computing will change how IT works today. (If you disagree, feel free to comment in the discussion.) The economy today is not in the best shape it has ever been, and companies want to spend less and less money on IT servers and infrastructure. With this in mind, companies are looking to outsource IT and take advantage of the SAAS model to handle any third-party applications that require constant babysitting and upgrades.

So the bean counters do the math and want to outsource the infrastructure to outside companies dedicated to handling the IT backbone. They don't want to deal with the cooling power costs and the upgrading and maintaining the infrastructure. They want to outsource all of that and just own the data and simply plug it in to an existing cloud infrastructure like we plug a light into a socket. And when we are done, we can either turn off the light or, better yet, pull the plug and find a better socket or vendor. So basically, we can move to any vendor who handles the infrastructure, but we always own the most vital part: the data.

We are slowly becoming dependant on cloud computing from a consumer side and don't even realize it. For years, I managed my own e-mail; I had to back it up and be the owner of that information. Then, one day a cute little company sent me a very special invite to a service call Gmail; I signed up, and Gmail became my e-mail provider. They store my information and keep it readily available. They back up my data and are responsible for it. It is my information, but the information is stored in the cloud. The amount of data I can store on Gmail increases yearly.

While cloud computing will not happen overnight, I do see it emerging heavily over the next five years. You will begin to see many startups take the spotlight, and more and more companies will tap into the idea of letting someone else manage the infrastructure, while they just plug in the information. What do you think about cloud computing and its potential impact on IT?

48 comments

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chillyzhosting

Cloud hosting is a highly scalable and cost efficient way to host your Web site. More importantly, it allows you to focus on your Web site and develop it the way you want rather than developing it so that it won?t push the limits of a single Web server. http://www.chillyz.com

The 'G-Man.'

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/248290/gmail-blackout-blamed-on-data-centre-overload.html How did you cope without you mail?

uwalther

Apart from the mentioned "private clouds", enterprise apps hosted in clouds are becoming reality. Our company has a track record to build "enterprise clouds" together with SAP -- the first product called eCloudManager (http://www.ecloudmanager.com) was just released to the public, it orchestrates storage systems and virtual intrastructure from a single management console. Check it out ;-)

CharlieSpencer

How does an enterprise cloud differ from traditional models with server-stored data, and apps based on Citrix or Terminal Services servers?

uwalther

The customer's access is also possible using Citrix or Terminal Services, hence no difference to the traditional cloud model. But: the eCloud hosts enterprise applications (i.e SAP ECC / BI / PI, BOBJ etc.), for multiple customers, in an isolated and secure fashion. Enterprise systems are huge (~1 TB is a common case), performance and resource requirements are very high, therefore eClouds are very complex/difficult to manage.

Tony Hopkinson

As you can see my name is right out there, if you want me to say the same thing to your face, it isn't a problem. I'm already prepared. I'll be working for 'you' doing stuff deemed cost effective by your business. Or I'll be working for them, either avoiding using your services or coping with all the shortfalls involved in using a homogenised service, when you need something slightly different and you'll charge 'too much' for it. Not bothered either way. I was just advertising my facility to think past period end.

CharlieSpencer

Speaking of netiquette, it's always a good idea to lurk for while before critiquing other members. Had you done so, you would have discovered that the TR community tolerates some pretty rough language in the Discussions forum. Tony's comment is well within the boundaries of what we consider acceptable. The Questions forum is another subject, and we tend to behave ourselves better over there. FYI, the PTBs don't allow George Carlin's 'Seven Words' or their ass-ociated kin; unsolicited or off-topic spam (on-topic sales pitches are tolerated); and racist, sexist, or other discriminatory language. Double entendres are par for the course, as are speculations about one's parent's marital status at the time of one's conception. Discussions (not Questions) are allowed to wander where they may, and staying on topic is neither required nor expected. We don't criticize spelling, grammar, or style as long as the poster gets his or her point across semi-coherently.

uwalther

Unfortunately not ;-) BTW, ever heard about netiquette? Anyway, I'm sure this thing will become reality, so we should prepare. And after all, there'll be more not less IT people, but that's a different discussion...

Tony Hopkinson

They've got rid of all the kit, infrastructure and people to do this expensive and complex task for themselves to suit their needs, and they need it, and you have it..... You just had an orgasm didn't you?

bretthusbands

The cloud is an enabling technology - not an end in itself. It improves ROI of solutions offered (there is no I) and has the potential to reduce TCO if done correctly. It is a matter of time before we start getting cloud solutions better than their installed alternatives. So far it has been applications that are better BECAUSE they are online. When we get solutions that are better than their installed equivalents, and they are cheaper and faster the obvious question will be "why do anything else?"

jmgarvin

Cloud computing is great for small businesses. It's just like SaaS. While it's useful, it's not a complete solution. Hell, salesforce.com is great, but honestly, it's not the best or most robust CRM out there. It's a good, and cheap, starting point. However, mid size businesses are moving off that model and more into an inhouse IT model. The same goes for Cloud Computing. Sure it's cool, but honestly, many corporations would not trust their data to the cloud, nor would they risk releasing proprietary information. The second MS or Google go 100% cloud internally, I'll change my mind.

toddw

I agree that it is more appealing to small and medium business for now but just like VoIP is catching on like wild fire because of cost savings so will Cloud Computing. Just ponder on this for a second. How much money do you think it takes for an Enterprise business to deploy a single server (10's of thousands in upfront expendatures for a high availability solution)? Better yet how long do you think it takes to get approval for the capital, then order the equipment and then integrate it into the existing systems (60-90 avg days and that doesn't include any infrastructure improvements like cable and networking)? I talk about hurdles in the cloud in one of my other posts but the later are hurdles physical networks have to deal with currently. To put this in perspective: As it relates to cloud computing I can rollout a new virtual multiserver environment in about 48 hours with a minimal amount of upfront capital and monthly payments based on storage space requirements and number of users who require access (cost can fluctuate as a company expands or in this economy CONTTRACTS). In summary the costs upfront and speed to deployment in addition to flexibility of expanding or contracting resource requirements on the fly as well as costs asssociated with expanding or rather contracting users will be the death of locally hosted solutions of today and likely draw the attention of Enterprise businesses towards cloud computing.

jmgarvin

What are the terms of the SLA? What is the uptime? What happens if the fiber from A to B gets cut? What's the fail over plan? What about data breaches, what happens? The Enterprise cannot move to cloud computing, save for a few VERY specific tasks (same for SaaS).

jck

I work in government, and if it can't be 100% reliable we can't have it. We have to be 100% accountable and can't go cloud. I mean, think about it. Hurricane happens...fiber lines are knocked out in North Florida. Someone has a website issue locally...is the cloud computing farm gonna come down and fix that fibre to the farm? Your users need their data daily, since they check and EOC website, or they can't get to weather.com because of fiber outages. If you keep your data local, it works local. Plus huge banks will never outsource their stores. That's suicide and unsecure.

jmantra

How will this affect our jobs as far as sysadmins and support staff? Am i going to have to make a career change here?

mark.holman

What they commented was, they were very dissatisfied and decided to stay In-House for their IT services. Unless they have changed their minds. But I seriously doubt it, what they know is when they have a valued employee they want to keep them, from the Janitor to the CEO.

No User

MUCH has been written here at TR dispelling the myth of the cloud. I wont repeat it yet again I shall say spread legs remove head from rectum and then take your head out of the cloud. Question would the bean counters that have tanked the economy YET AGAIN be the same ones who want to out source all of IT? How about we have some fun and kill 2 birds with one stone. That would be the infamous misconception that IT has moved it's self out side business and not the other way around. Yes that would be the BS about IT has unaligned it's self with business. Finally we can put that BS to bed and for those who don't get it business has unaligned it's self with IT.

Steven S. Warren

IT is more aligned with business than it ever has been in the past. As a consultant, I have gone into many companies over the years and have seen their IT staff shrink first hand. I have seen how companies have signed on with payroll companies in a saas model, seen how testing has been moved to the cloud with services such as skytap. Companies are no longer wanting to foot the bill for servers and infrastructure. They are looking at it as a business and making decisions. And for the record, the bean counters did not tank the economy it was the people of the USA who bought more than they could afford. Don't be so obtuse. And furthermore, pony up your name. It is easy to vomit your ideas to us under the guise of I am better than you. I am not hear to say my opinion is correct but it takes guts to pony up an opinion. Let's have a real discussion please.

No User

Just stand still for a minute you will run smack into yourself. You wrote the article and then made a post to Tony stating that you don't know of any company doing it. But you sure are certain that the CLOUD is coming or was that the sky is falling and going to take over and replace in house IT? They make pills that take care of those problems now days. As I said in my original post enough has been said here at TR resoundingly defeating the cloud concept why add more debate yourself your doing a good job of it now. ;) Your quote "IT is more aligned with business than it ever has been in the past." How about passing that along to the rest of the TR authors especially Jason "IT has unaligned it's self from business" Hiner. Don't give me your dribble that you need my name I have been a member since April of 1999 I have used my name and derivatives it matters not. When you jump from one side to the other contradicting yourself as you have why would you need my name? It reminds me of a campus rag that me and some brothers scolded anonymously and believe it or not when they complained they made a huge deal over it being anonymous and how proud they were to tack their name to their articles and the fact that we didn't and if we had something to say just type it up with our names attached and submit it to them and then they said that our article wasn't good enough to publish and they wouldn't grace their rag with it.

No User

From your post. "We are slowly becoming dependant on cloud computing from a consumer side and don?t even realize it. For years, I managed my own e-mail; I had to back it up and be the owner of that information. Then, one day a cute little company sent me a very special invite to a service call Gmail; I signed up, and Gmail became my e-mail provider. They store my information and keep it readily available. They back up my data and are responsible for it. It is my information, but the information is stored in the cloud. The amount of data I can store on Gmail increases yearly. While cloud computing will not happen overnight, I do see it emerging heavily over the next five years. You will begin to see many startups take the spotlight, and more and more companies will tap into the idea of letting someone else manage the infrastructure, while they just plug in the information. What do you think about cloud computing and its potential impact on IT?" Check out the we are becoming dependent on the cloud and it will be emerging heavily over the next five years. That is quite an endorsement and prediction from someone who has admitted having no knowledge of any company using it. Here is another excerpt from your original post. "Here is my understanding on how cloud computing will change how IT works today. (If you disagree, feel free to comment in the discussion.) " And now you are obviously flip flopping on that as well. Face it you are just a little Monkey playing huggy kissy with Hiner's hiney and his fellow IT haters. They want no IT folks employed by a standard business only IT companies so they can rent and contract and in general treat IT folks like dirt and IT it's self as disposable. One of the reason's for that nonsense is that they resent the new kid on the block and don't understand IT and are hopelessly incapable of controlling IT even although they will run a company into the ground trying. Face it you made a bad choice for an article and in it flip flopped and exposed the poser that you are and even although you invited disagreement you flip flopped yet again and hurl insults at those who disagree with you. I meant no insult to any Monkey by comparing you to them if any feel insulted I apologize. By the way to your Troll pal Palmetto the Troll call has already been announced you stupid Troll. If you Trolls have not noticed (which would be expected of you stupid Trolls) for some time now I have not read the Troll posts I just put out an alert. You see according to Murphy's law which I shall now invoke quote " Never argue with a Fool if for no other reason then a mere passer by would not be able to distinguish the difference." Now shut up and go Troll away somewhere else it's so indignant of you Trolls to post!!!

CharlieSpencer

It's not worth it. He lost me when he dragged the price of houses into it.

Steven Warren

I will skip through most of the garbage and insults and get to the point. First of all, I gave you my understanding of how cloud computing will work today. I quote "Here is my understanding on how cloud computing will change how IT works today. (If you disagree, feel free to comment in the discussion." As you disagree, I can appreciate that. No where in this post did I say cloud computing is taking over the world or that you will lose your job. I said the technology is emerging. VMware is currently developing this technology. No where in this article did I say that companies are currently using this technology. Honestly, I am fascinated by the idea of cloud computing. It is interesting and my purpose for this post wasn't to talk about your politics or the housing bubble but to talk about cloud computing and get other thoughts ideas. When Tony posted his comments it got me thinking about what he said. I actually learn things from my peers and I can appreciate candid feedback. I know Jason Hiner well. I dont have to agree with everything he says. He is in a different world then I am. He talks to vendors and travels and reports. I am not a reporter. For over a decade I was a Technical Consultant and I traveled all over the USA building systems. I watched as virtualization emerged. I wrote articles about where I thought virtualization was headed. There were people like you who insulted me and then there were people who added insight. Jason doesn't see what I see from the inside. He doesnt here the stories from the IT guy at lunch complaining about how he works 3 people's jobs. I don't believe I flip flopped anything. Your post to Tony "You have a lot of valid points and in my mind I am still fleshing all of this out as their is no real vendor doing such a thing yet. Let me think about some of this." Did YOU happen to read the article that you posted? This technology is emerging and through reading the posts, I learned of a couple of companies that are doing this currently. I still believe cloud computing will be prevalent in the next 5 years.

santeewelding

Issues. Defeating issues.

No User

It's raining trolls. Hi trolls. Bye trolls. Troll on trolls. It's what you do trolls.

boxfiddler

to blast off.

santeewelding

I see makings here and there for germane argument, but your issues stand in the way. They detract.

Tony Hopkinson

How is it possible for say google to be aligned with an individual company's needs? The problem with the cloud idea is that it ignores economic reality. How are providers of cloud services going to make a profit, and who are they going to make it from. Mine and sell your data, which is how they are funding the 'free' service? Charge you a small fee? When you've got rid of all your IT infratructure, where can you go for an alternative service? We both know through hook and crook cloud service providers will aggregate for scaling reasons if nothing else. We both know there will be commercial advantages for provider and consumer for a one stop shop for all services. At that point you are looking at recreating your entire infrastructure, or paying wahtever they ask, or going out of business. Please tell me how this makes long terms sense, for a consumer of cloud services? PS, you can only buy, what people are selling.....

CharlieSpencer

Apparently toddw is doing it, according to his post above. http://techrepublic.com.com/5208-13400-0.html?forumID=102&threadID=302502&messageID=3020985

Steven S. Warren

and in my mind I am still fleshing all of this out as their is no real vendor doing such a thing yet. Let me think about some of this.

The 'G-Man.'

The devices / hardware / processes will not change. It is perhaps better to say: Will companies use of IT change with cloud computing? If I was then B.A of data I would be saying right now - 'Aint gettin in no cloud, crazy fool'

toddw

I love the idea of cloud computing and have actually changed our business model to help small businesses migrate to cloud computing under our own hosting solution (not google apps) and we do offer an SLA (but you pay for the service unlike google apps). So far it has been well recieved and has saved clients a ton of money which is a huge selling point in this economy. I think the biggest hurdles we see in the cloud are as follows: 1. Bandwidth reliability and availability: As cloud computing catches on will we have enough backbone available in all areas to sustain adequate access to data & applications which would have otherwise be local to the clients network on local servers? A T1 may not be enough anymore! 2. Working offline: I think that some sort of caching method or maybe a variation of mesh networking can be a work a round for offline computing in the cloud as long as you have a natively installed application which can manipulate the content. 3. Useable Applications: I know goggle apps is similar in some ways to the widely used MS office suite but it seems that it lacks in abilities, customization and allowance for plug-in interaction. Regardless of the hurdles it is an appealing option due to the cost savings on physical servers, licensing, power consumption and ongoing maintenance/upgrades in addition to being able to work from anywhere. I do not think Enterprise will be so willing to migrate totally until more hurdles like these have work arounds or solutions in place. Thats my 2 cents worth!

The 'G-Man.'

All good bar: Reliability, Availability, Working offline & Useable Applications. Sounds a winner.

Tony Hopkinson

without including the 'free' silver bullet.

Tony Hopkinson

THe guys are selling us the cloud on the basis that it makes sound business sense. Yet sound business sense, says. Homogenise your services to cut costs. Work your way towards monopolising your service to increase your revenue. So sound business thinking says we get less and will end up paying more for it. A bunch of csv files? I'm seeing problems :p ...

The 'G-Man.'

Netsuite Online CRM (By Oracle) Once tendered where they were part of the short listed vendors. I asked - How does support work? We have a call centre in India you call. I pressed on...What if I need more personal support? We have a Call centre in India you call... Then... In the event we wish to move vendor in future how would you provide all our CRM data back to us? We would export every table in .csv format for you. I pressed on...what good is that if we don't know the structure of the system it comes from? The structure is private, but you will get everything is .csv format so there is no worry. Yes there was, on both counts!

Tony Hopkinson

business function to a 'free' provider, deserves their fate. It's not just their SLA with you though. They've still got a minimal infrastructure, to get onto the net, then the ISP. Then there's what services and levels of support it's cost effective for you to offer. 24/7 for instance. Not arguing with your business model, I'm sure it will suit enough customers for it to be viable. All no way, and people keep promoting the cloud as though it is a silver bullet in and of itself. Mainly the big boys who see big bucks once they have you by the short and curlies.

toddw

Free = get what you pay for SOL when you run into issues. Good for individuals and maybe small start up businesses who have not much to lose. Pay = get what you pay for as well but there is an SLA which ties in support and guarantees. Good for businesses who do not like to gamble with thier proprietary data and applications. It is likened to Open Source solutions which are free and have no guarantees. This option may be good for a startup business or for those who have IT staff with plenty of time to search forums for work arounds and fixes. On the flip side in recent years there has been Open Source solutions canned and supported via a service provider but you pay for the support which is what established businesses like to count on. Most established businesses do not like to gamble when it comes to available support options. Thus is the reason for our clients deciding to pay for cloud computing rather than go the free-bee route!

CharlieSpencer

Worth more than that. Good analysis.

kpdriscoll

Google Apps takes a large burden off of small business. Its all most need to provide a web presence and email capabilities to their workforce, in or out of the office. Make employees use their own laptops and use the web as your network. Aside from key internal documents, 99% of what small businesses use computers for can be done via Google Apps. Eliminate complex LAN servers, tape back-ups, and all of the hourly rates paid to maintain them and you've got a compelling incentive for small business owners to trust Google.

Tony Hopkinson

they can trust google. Aside from key internal documents... So how are these to be managed now you've binned your entire IT infrastructure? Make employees use their own laptops? Who says they've got one, not to mentions a google apps compatible OS, oh and no viruses, malware, keyloggers, back doors, porn, ripped music and CDs, cracked games....

kpdriscoll

In a small business (

Tony Hopkinson

about the technical aspects. If it's worthwhile to do so you can throw money at that. Mega bandwidth, server farms, alternate physical connections, client defined encryption. Throwing money at it will improve things over the long run as well. What concerns me if the business argument. If a critical aspect of your business is wholly dependant on a third party, or can be engineered to be so, it will. After all that's sound business and financial thinking on the part of the provider. Do you remember the old days of dial-up ISPs. You know when someone launched a new ISP, super fast only 4.95 etc. Loads of people took up the offer, and it went as slow as hell, until they spent the money you had paid on infrastructure that would cope with the demand.... Do you remember when broad band first came in, the ISPs charged more for it, and then deliberately degraded the dialup service, so even those who didn't need it 'upgraded'. No matter how carefully you put your nuts in someone else's vice, you are trusting that it's not in their interest to turn the handle a wee bit... Why?

myother

Could it be that we have our techie noses so close to the window that we are missing out on the transition from Big Business/Big IT to Agile Business/Agile IT? Should we not consider that the shape of corporates in the post-meltdown era will not resemble the models we wish to fit our prescriptions into today? Cloud Computing is the edge of the future - its capabilities will be grow as will its complexities, driven by a consumer need to focus on what we do best as individuals, organisations and communities, NOT what the machines say we can. In that new era, today's Holy Grail of Data Privacy might just be as valuable as tissue paper.

Tony Hopkinson

Can you manage without it effectively and for how long? Can you out perform someone with the resource local or in the cloud. If the cloud capability did go, and you couldn't get an effective service from an other provider, waht's teh cost of bringing it back in house again. You entire argument is predicated on two assumptions. Continuous availability in business terms and the cost will not go up above that of a localised resource. You have no way of ensuring either of these are or will stay true. Don't tell me you are going to do this s a temporary cost cutting measure, my ribs are still aching from a post last week. Instead of cutting your bottom line get more out of it, unless you are woefully over resourced anyway.

The 'G-Man.'

One day all your data was just 'gone' and you were staring at an empty screen. What is your SLA with google for getting that data back?

CharlieSpencer

"Unless you?ve been sleeping this past year, you?ve heard about cloud computing. It seems as if many companies are looking at this heavily for the future. Companies such as VMware seem to be staking their future on it." I haven't missed the 'cloud' discussions, but apparently I napped through VMware's commitment. I thought they were still oriented around virtualization. Are the two tied together in some way I'm not seeing? "And when we are done, we can either turn off the light or, better yet, pull the plug and find a better socket or vendor." At work we just changed the company that manages our 401K plan. Both the outgoing and incoming companies are nationally recognized firms, and there were less than 1500 accounts involved. This was planned well in advance, yet there was still a 'blackout' period of almost three weeks during which we could not access or update our accounts. Obviously time improves all IT processes, but that inability to access data during a transfer gives me the impression that storing data on the cloud may give the service provider more opportunity for vendor lock-in than many will be comfortable with. "We are slowly becoming dependant on cloud computing from a consumer side and don?t even realize it." You know better than that. What consumers do rarely impacts good IT practices. These are the same consumers who ignore 'safe computing' practices and never back up their data.

Steven S. Warren

I forgot to backup my data yesterday lol. From a VMware perspective, they have the vdc-os (Data Center OS) and it is their hope that this will be the next hit. Microsoft and Citrix are closing in and as other vendors move heavily into the virtualization space with better price points, it will be harder and harder for VMware to maintain its dominance. Nice to hear from you Palmetto. Hope you are doing well.

twobucksjr

It seems that this would be the desired effect of a firm. Decreasing costs with stable reliability. I have actually had this in the back of my noggin for years, so the concept is not new. Just have a store in some distant location with a staff of IT people on a fiber connection and you're good-to-go.

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