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Jul 2009
Cloud Codex
‘Cloud computing’ is one of the hottest terms in IT today. Yet if one asks what it means, a dozen answers will emerge, many of them steeped in ‘marketecture,’ as vendors redefine hardware, software and service offerings in light of the newest fad. But that is not satisfactory – cloud computing is not just whatever a product manager says it is on a given day. There must be some level playing field, some criteria from a neutral third party defined in some way other than simply that which makes certain vendors happy.
The 451 Group’s Cloud Codex emerged from a long series of discussions, arguments and impassioned pleas. No effort was made to triangulate or to please the largest number of people possible; such efforts rarely lead to true insight. Instead, we began with a blank whiteboard and a vision of IT that seems to be hovering just over the horizon – ready to be actualized but tantalizingly out of reach right now. The path to achieving that vision in a reasonable time frame must begin with answering a set of basic questions, and that’s what the Cloud Codex is all about. These questions include:
• What are cloud services?
• What are the criteria – hard and fast – for defining a cloud?
• What are the different deployment models for an enterprise cloud?
• Which cloud services will providers offer?
• What features must be developed in order for cloud computing to reach a level
of general deployment?
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