Most of us in the technology industry are observing the recent hype over cloud computing, some hoping that it might provide a boost to the tech sector in an otherwise bleak economic climate. And if one goes by the assumption that technology trends peak when the business press begins featuring them, cloud computing must be peaking the hype curve.
As we head into the easter holidays, I decided to catch up on the chatter on cloud computing. I began with Kris Gopalakrishnan`s views express during his trip to Davos for WEF earlier this (Infosys CEO Sees Brightness in Clouds) Wall Street Journal recently featured a story (The Internet Industry Is on a Cloud -- Whatever That May Mean) that begins by explaining “Ever since Google Inc. Chief Executive Eric Schmidt publicly uttered the term "cloud computing" in 2006, a storm has been gathering over Silicon Valley.”
What I liked about the WSJ piece was the author’s ability to distil the essence of the cloud paradigm:
Despite its recent surge in popularity, the cloud is among the oldest pieces of computer jargon, says Alex Bochannek, a curator at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif. For decades, engineers drew them in schematic diagrams to show where their own network joins another whose inner workings are unknown or irrelevant. "You symbolize that with a cloud, or some amorphous shape," says Mr. Bochannek.
The author also builds on how software vendors are beginning to replace Cloud Comupting for other tech buzzwords including ASP, “online services” and "on-demand business services."
The debate among digirati is getting a bit polarized with the recent publication of the “Open Cloud Manifesto” My colleagues from our Microsoft practice also continue to scan the horizon for clouds, much like Indian farmers will be doing so in a few months with the advent of Monsoon season. Not surprisingly they are siding with folks at Redmond on Open Cloud Manifesto though I personally find the debate a non-issue. When is the last time the “entire tech industry” and “all” vendors agree on anything? For instance, do we have a global standard for all facets of SOA - yet another hyped technology paradigm - that all vendors agree to? Of course, just to stretch an argument on cloud computing, one can throw some bit of offshoring mantra: as long as a strong cloud paradigm is defined, your cloud might as well be managed from offshore.
Should the rest of us be peering at the looming clouds of a darkening economy, or as Kris Gopalakrishnan was quoted in CNBC await Brightness in the Clouds?
There are several interesting viewpoints and analysis on cloud computing on including
- Troy Angrignon`s compilation of interesting links.
- Steve Hamm A Tech Industry Imperative: Make the Cloud Open
- The year of the cloud
- Cloud computing: A catchphrase in puberty
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