Cloud

Cloud Computing is a term which has come into fashion over the past few years. It means different things to different people and is used so broadly that it can be hard to make sense of exactly what it is. There is debate as to whether "Cloud" is even a new phenomenon or just a new name for a trend in IT which has been happening for many years - namely to think of IT as providing services - rather than consisting of a system of hardware and software solutions.

Free's a Cloud
A common use of Cloud Computing is when referring to internet based services such as Google, MSN or even social networks like Facebook and LinkedIn. Many of these have grown large consumer customer bases through the provision of free services. Money is then made through additional chargeable services (eg for corporate customers) or via advertising. These companies provide services to customers by way of applications which are accessed via the Internet. From the user's perspective, the software and hardware used to run these services are wholly irrelevant. The orientation of this type of solution has shifted from infrastructure centric to service centric. Prior to "Cloud", "Service Oriented Architecture" was one of the most written about subjects in the IT press. This seems to have gone out of vogue - now Cloud is in.

One of the enablers for Cloud - or a services orientation - is virtualisation. This allows for software applications to exist and function independently from hardware and provides mobility. In other words, applications can move, not only within an organisation's infrastructure - but also out to somebody else's infrastructure. This gives rise to the terms Private Cloud and Public Cloud.

Rent a Cloud
For many years, outsourcing of IT has been a hot agenda item for organisations wishing to reduce overall costs - to pass over the control of IT to an outsourcer who specialises in providing IT services. This frees up the organisation to invest in their own business - and stay focussed on what they are good at. The theory is that the outsourcer brings specialist IT knowledge and economy of scale to lower overall IT costs as well as moving IT out of capital expenditure and purely into operational expenditure (which can have positive impact from an accounting point of view). Outsourcing is an operational change and in most cases consists of leaving the infrastructure in-house or perhaps in a hosted data-centre - but having some or all of the IT staff employed by the outsourcer.

With the coming of virtualisation technology - applications have become mobile which provides much more flexibility for the outsourcing model. Many outsourcers and data-centre hosting companies are now offering "Cloud Computing" as a new alternative for their customers. The buzz which accompanies the term Cloud has meant heightened interest in these offerings.

Means to an end
Cloud Computing as well as its predecessors and counterparts - Utility Computing, Service Oriented Architecture, Managed Services, Hosted Services, IT as a Service - are really just means to an end. The role of IT always has been to provide services to the business. The more efficiently those services can be provided - the more value is reaped by the organisation. Cloud Computing, or whatever you wish to call it, is really about helping support business growth by lowering total cost of operations, increasing agility (allowing services to increase and decrease on demand) and to reduce business risks. Arguably, it is the latter - to reduce risks - which is the major hurdle to more widespread adoption of Cloud Computing. If IT has become mission critical - you need some pretty strong safeguards in place if you are to entrust someone else with it.

Head in the Cloud
There are a number of reasons why Cloud Computing has caught imaginations. Not least, the idea that it's a pill which can be taken to cure all the ills of traditional IT - not least the inherent costs of owning your own infrastructure and department to run it. Here is a video from Chris Barnatt which covers some of the more aspirational reasons for pursuing Cloud Computing.