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Jun 2008
Partly Cloudy - Blue-Sky Thinking About Cloud Computing
This year, practically every vendor briefing that 451 infrastructure analysts have taken has ended up being at some level a conversation about cloud computing. There's a lot of hand-waving and cheerleading for this concept. It's as if a state of 'cloud nine' has taken over the industry.
The 451 Group believes that cloud computing brings many opportunities and challenges for both vendors and end users.
Undoubtedly, there is a real trend that brings together technologies, economic models and delivery mechanisms. There is also the cycle of hype – a marketing bandwagon onto which the vendor community appears to have collectively leapt.
With feet planted on terra firma, The 451 Group has put a head into the cloud with this first in a series of reports focused on the phenomenon, with the goal of examining the likely business impact for all constituents.
So what is cloud computing? The latest buzzword for grid or utility computing? A superset of clustering or virtualization? The public network? Software as a service? A new sourcing model? The Internet for business?
‘Cloud computing’ describes a service model that combines a general organizing principle for IT delivery, infrastructure components, an architectural approach and an economic model – basically, a confluence of grid computing, virtualization, utility computing, hosting and software as a service (SaaS).
Or, put more simply, the cloud is IT, presented as a service to the user, delivered by virtualized resources that are independent of location.
This report examines cloud computing, beginning with this clear-cut definition of the technology. It then looks at the cloud computing trend – by analyzing the technology, as well as the economic models and delivery mechanisms involved – with the goal of separating the reality from the hype.
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