Hot Topic: Every silver lining has a cloud

by Allan Behrens

Motivated by recent discussions with IBM on their 'Cloud' strategy I pondered over potential opportunities. I suppose it's only fair to set the scene on the 'Cloud' phenomenon. What is it? Well, there are many descriptions but basically I see it as the delivery through a browser of a virtual computing capability that is dynamic and scalable. The essence of the cloud is that it shields the user (and the application software author) from the intricacies of the computing infrastructure (aka IT plumbing).

This is no new phenomenon. The 'Cloud' is an evolution; a capability enabled through technology developments from many disparate sources including those of open source. What it does do is enable those with significant computer infrastructure to use it more efficiently, and those without to have the opportunity to run software applications without the capital expense of (often large) scalable computing infrastructures. The deliverable is often a service level agreement for compute capability in a similar manner to that provided by our utility companies (water, power etc).

The advent of cloud heralds an interesting business opportunity for the likes of IBM, Amazon and Google. There is obviously opportunity in selling technology to build and run a 'Cloud', namely the infrastructure as well as the computing 'utility' product itself. But what I find interesting is the opportunity to leverage the principle of the cloud to deliver infrastructure that in the past has been unavailable for all but the largest enterprises.

What does this mean? Well, for one thing it's easier to see how to beta and subsequently provision a rapidly expanding application; Facebook being an example. More interesting to many, specifically in smaller software houses and indeed those in the third world, there now exists a mechanism to launch and deliver capability to the user on a scale to suit demand. Not only that, but as the 'Cloud' infrastructure can be built on distributed networks, there's little to stop like-minded groups creating their own 'Cloud clusters' to deliver resource for specific purpose or based on shared capital budgets.

Whilst many see 'Cloud' as slightly ethereal, I see it as an opportunity for many to compete in a manner not envisaged before. I anticipate those in emerging economies will be amongst the leaders in its take up as they strive to better existing companies set in their ways of less flexible existing computing models.