What’s In a Cloud?

There’s still no good definition for cloud computing, but an awful lot of people are spending (and making) an awful lot of money on it. A new quarterly report out by GigaOM Pro lists increases in data center spending, networking gear investments, and money spent on introducing new cloud services. So what’s the deal? How come we can’t define this thing yet?

If you think back to earlier in the decade, buzzwords like grid computing and thin clients were making the rounds. However, the focus for both was entirely IT-driven. In contrast, today’s cloud has a public-facing front. Consumers use cloud services all the time – from photo storage sites, to music streaming services, to online collaboration tools. Maybe it’s the consumer adoption of the “cloud” that has given the term and trend such significance. Not only are IT folks on board for the increased efficiencies that come with cloud computing, but consumers see the value in cloud services, which in turn means that businesses are latching on to the cloud to create new revenue opportunities.

This brings us to a new dilemma. Do we need to segment the cloud? Should there be a cloud, and also a cloud behind the cloud? A cloud of Flickr, Google Docs, and Web services, and a cloud of supporting infrastructure and network intelligence? If so, is it possible to draw a clear line where one begins and the other ends? Or do the definitions remain… cloudy?

There aren’t a lot of answers yet, but the market is starting to figure out what questions to ask. Meanwhile the cloud continues to grow.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 15th, 2010 at 12:24 pm and is filed under Cloud, Content Delivery Network. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.