Why this blog?
April 02, 2008, Austin TX.
I have been following this latest mantra closely. Cloud computing, what a term? It brings the vision of computing power descending from a divine source right out of the clouds. Last few months, I have read blogs to books including ‘Big Switch’ by Nicholas Carr (more on this later). Discussed it with anyone who was willing to talk about it. Users, business managers, marketing managers at software companies and IT pros.
In the last 2 decades we have experienced several new-new paradigms that all promised to changed the IT landscape and they did, to an extent, but did they live to the expectations? I heard the teenage sex joke associated with so many technologies that I stopped counting after a while. Isn’t Cloud Computing or Utility Computing repackaging of the Application Software Provider [ASP] of internet bubble time? Why is different this time? What changed? Should we care?,
Cloud or Utility computing would not have been possible without a number of other concurrent technology game changers such as virtualization, collaboration, mashups and consumerization of technology. Thus this time, it is here to stay. So, should we really care?
Yes, we should!
I will not go into primers on this world or try to convince you on why utility computing will change the IT world. Plenty of blurbs out there. The objective of this blog is to elaborate on what the implications and effects of this technology are. Here is a brief list of topics, I will cover and will invite guests to write about
- Will businesses welcome it as it is being promised?
- Will it change the way CIO’s think?
- Is there anything in it for IT groups?
- Where would consulting companies fit in?
- Where do current software vendors fit in?
- What happens to software market as whole?
- Where will the next stars come from?
- What will IT enterprise application architecture be?
- Which apps will remain on-premise versus which ones will be on-demands? And who will make that choice?
- What happens to specific technology domains like single sign on and identity management, content management, portals, business process management, ERP packages, DRM, desktop apps…many more?
- What would future career of a software developer would be?
- Would this close the debate on technology worker shortage?
- What would the career and responsibilities of IT staff?
- How does globalization affect this trend? Already we are seeing some very important players in this from lands far off
- How will this impact IT expenditure and finances, Opex versus capex?
- Who will own vendor relationship, corporate procurement, IT or business directly?
- What are the legal implications?
So, buckle up while I share my insights from the trenches. These are interesting times
Lets see where the clouds drift us all.