Cloud computing is growing at a fast pace and will continue to do so for quite some time. The Gartner Group for example has projected a tripling of the market in the next five years, and almost everyone else is projecting some level of super-charged growth in the space. Now of course, this all depends on what you include or don't include in your definition of cloud computing (Google Apps for example). As long as you are consistent in your personal definition, the growth ought to be of a similar magnitude.
The reasons for this growth are the advantages that cloud computing provides, including faster deployment, smoother scalability, pay-for-what-you-use business models, and no capital expenditure on the hardware and software that comprises the architecture. Amazon, Microsoft, IBM, Google, Opsource, and Rackspace are all companies offering public cloud infrastructure for rent, and a myriad of vendors have lined up to add layers of capabilities on top of these offerings such as RightScale, and the ecosystems that can take advantage of these architectures such as StrikeIron's are continuing to invest in the space as well. Unfortunately Sun's promising efforts in this space have been discontinued by Oracle for one reason or another.
This public computing resource trend has been great for startups because new companies can launch on cloud infrastructure "virtually" overnight, without the traditional costs tied to software, hardware, and the management of those resources, which traditionally has required them to seek and spend time on obtaining private funding. Reducing startup "start friction" has in turn created a bubbling sea of innovation as of late.
However, there has been more reluctance in the enterprise space to move to the "Cloud" because of worries about security and losing control when utilizing these public resources. There are just some highly-valued sets of data and mission-critical business processes that many organizations just don't want to put in the hands of a third party.
As a result, many of these companies are now building out their own "private cloud" infrastructure that mirrors the public clouds in functionality. This "member-only" infrastructure can then be shared across business units and geographies in an effort to eliminate IT redundancy, reduce costs, and increase efficiency, just as public clouds do for the masses.
Because of this trend, many of the cloud infrastructure providers are now offering virtual private capabilities. For example, Amazon's Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC) is in an effort to provide a "hybrid" solution for enterprises building out a private cloud where some public computing resources can be utilized where it makes sense to do so.
What's still not clear though is what actual separation of data on the actual public cloud servers really occurs, rendering the concept by some as an exercise in marketing, at least so far. However, the enterprise market for cloud computing is potentially huge, so I am expecting a lot more to occur in this space.
There definitely are solid cases to be made for both public and private clouds (as well as hybrid solutions), so my guess is these two will co-exist for quite some time, and the line as to what separates the two will be somewhat blurred (as usual). The end result will be that whatever route or combination of routes companies employ in the new age of the Cloud, these efforts will leave more resources available for actual innovation rather than infrastructure management and a repetitive IT exercises, and that can only be good for us all, right?
The reasons for this growth are the advantages that cloud computing provides, including faster deployment, smoother scalability, pay-for-what-you-use business models, and no capital expenditure on the hardware and software that comprises the architecture. Amazon, Microsoft, IBM, Google, Opsource, and Rackspace are all companies offering public cloud infrastructure for rent, and a myriad of vendors have lined up to add layers of capabilities on top of these offerings such as RightScale, and the ecosystems that can take advantage of these architectures such as StrikeIron's are continuing to invest in the space as well. Unfortunately Sun's promising efforts in this space have been discontinued by Oracle for one reason or another.
This public computing resource trend has been great for startups because new companies can launch on cloud infrastructure "virtually" overnight, without the traditional costs tied to software, hardware, and the management of those resources, which traditionally has required them to seek and spend time on obtaining private funding. Reducing startup "start friction" has in turn created a bubbling sea of innovation as of late.
However, there has been more reluctance in the enterprise space to move to the "Cloud" because of worries about security and losing control when utilizing these public resources. There are just some highly-valued sets of data and mission-critical business processes that many organizations just don't want to put in the hands of a third party.
As a result, many of these companies are now building out their own "private cloud" infrastructure that mirrors the public clouds in functionality. This "member-only" infrastructure can then be shared across business units and geographies in an effort to eliminate IT redundancy, reduce costs, and increase efficiency, just as public clouds do for the masses.
Because of this trend, many of the cloud infrastructure providers are now offering virtual private capabilities. For example, Amazon's Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC) is in an effort to provide a "hybrid" solution for enterprises building out a private cloud where some public computing resources can be utilized where it makes sense to do so.
What's still not clear though is what actual separation of data on the actual public cloud servers really occurs, rendering the concept by some as an exercise in marketing, at least so far. However, the enterprise market for cloud computing is potentially huge, so I am expecting a lot more to occur in this space.
There definitely are solid cases to be made for both public and private clouds (as well as hybrid solutions), so my guess is these two will co-exist for quite some time, and the line as to what separates the two will be somewhat blurred (as usual). The end result will be that whatever route or combination of routes companies employ in the new age of the Cloud, these efforts will leave more resources available for actual innovation rather than infrastructure management and a repetitive IT exercises, and that can only be good for us all, right?
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