Cloud computing is already successful, except for in enterprise IT, says Daryl Plummer, managing VP and Gartner fellow.
During his discussion on cloud computing at Gartner ITxpo/Symposium Africa 2009, in Cape Town, yesterday, he explained that in the last 15 to 20 years, IT in the enterprise has been reluctant to introduce impactful consumer technologies into the business.
Plummer pointed to successful technologies such as instant messaging and micro blogging, like Twitter, as examples of innovations that IT has been reluctant to allow into the enterprise. “In fact, IT fights to have them kept out of the business.”
He said cloud computing is no exception. “Most of the things that are fundamental in our lives can now be done on the Internet. IT needs to recognise that and embrace its advantages.”
One advantage Plummer pointed to is that people are more tolerant of the faults associated with Web-based technologies. “If you get a '404 page can't be found error' on the Web, you simply hit refresh on your browser. But if your PC-based application has a fault, you are less tolerant.”
Cloud computing is no longer a matter of if, but when, he noted. Applications are no longer being built without some sort of Internet capability, and Plummer said this is a partial driver for its success.
On the dotted line
While the success in the consumer sector has been dramatic, Plummer added that the enterprise will have valid concerns about implementing cloud computing. “However, if you let your concerns work too hard on you, you won't break through the trust barrier.”
Some of the concerns revolve around the location and security of enterprise data in the cloud. “You have to decide when and what intellectual property you will put in the cloud, because it's happening whether you want it to or not.”
Companies can overcome the problem of IP by forcing cloud providers into contractual agreements that protect the information, or ensure information is stored under the correct governance structures, he explained.
Plummer added that companies will have to trust that service providers will do their job. “And we do this with other aspects of our lives. If we don't trust, the model will fall under its own weight.”
Behind the wall
Another method of breaking into the cloud computing arena is by building a “private cloud”, where companies can directly control the services and information. “The difference between the cloud and a private cloud is there is a firewall around a private one.”
However, there is less value in a private cloud, since most cloud computing services require critical mass to be successful, he pointed out. Services in the cloud are flexible; there when you need them and gone when you don't. Plummer noted it's more difficult to create that flexibility in a private cloud.
According to Plummer, there are four ways enterprises can ease themselves into cloud computing today. “Compare your costs of capital expenditure to what the cloud providers are offering. Find three workloads which you feel you can experiment with. Wrap some applications and dump them in the cloud. Finally, consider cloud e-mail, or collaboration.”
With consumer technologies becoming more pervasive in the lives of employees, companies no longer have a choice but to start looking at the cloud as an opportunity. “Enterprises are just waking to what consumers have benefited from for a while.”
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