- Is the Cisco MARS mission going to abort?
- First iPhone worm spreads Rick Astley wallpaper
- 10 stunning 3D buildings made with Google SketchUp
- Open source software ready for big business
- Four reasons to buy (and one reason to avoid) the Droid
Amy Schurr dispenses advice on managing human and capital assets for maximum ROI.
There's some confusion about what exactly constitutes cloud computing, but one thing experts tend to agree on is the evolutionary effect this will have on IT. A new report from Gartner points to the opportunity to shape the relationship among consumers of IT services, those who use IT services and those who sell them.
The report, “Cloud Computing Confusion Leads to Opportunity,” defines cloud computing as a style where massively scalable IT-related capabilities are provided as a service to multiple external customers. You’ve probably heard it called utility computing, software-as-a-service and application service providers. The factors making such a model viable today are commoditization and standardization of technologies, virtualization and service-oriented architects, and the growth of the Internet.
“During the past 15 years, a continuing trend toward IT industrialization has grown in popularity as IT services delivered via hardware, software and people are becoming repeatable and usable by a wide range of customers and service providers,” said Daryl Plummer, managing vice president and Gartner Fellow.
What does this mean for IT leaders? Eventually users can focus on what the service delivers rather than how they are implemented or hosted. The possibilities include procuring computational facilities on demand, storage services to software to video.
Gartner says consumer-focused vendors have more mature services than enterprise-oriented vendors, though all can benefit. Branding is one opportunity for vendors – imagine Wal-Mart leasing its core
“Companies invest billions of dollars in building up their core competencies, much of which goes into IT,” says David Mitchell Smith, vice president and Gartner Fellow. “If companies could lease their core competencies to other companies then they would capitalize on both brands, driving revenue both in the consumer-facing market and the business service market in the way that Amazon has done with technology.”
Amy Schurr is the former managing features editor of Network World.
Partner Content
Blue Stripe Software
www.bluestripe.com/
Improving Application Performance Troubleshooting
Diagnosing why an application is slow is hard, at times taking days or weeks to isolate and resolve. This paper explains the challenges involved using current management tools, provides a 'wish list' for application management and analysis, and explains the need for an application system-wide approach that monitors entire applications, not components.
Download Whitepaper
Virtual Vigilance: Managing Application Performance in Virtual Environments
This paper highlights the impact of virtualization on application performance. "Managing Application Performance in Virtual Environments" states: "Best-in-Class organizations are predominately taking actions around improving visibility across both physical and virtual systems, assessing the business impact of application performance and understanding interdependencies of applications in virtualized environments."
Download Whitepaper
Application Service Requests: The Missing Link for Pragmatic ITSM
Forrester Research analyst Glenn O'Donnell and BlueStripe co-founder Vic Nyman discuss a breakthrough approach to application problem management. Learn the new approach for ITSM problem management, which provides: Rapid isolation of application slow-downs to specific components for quick problem resolution, 24/7 monitoring for proactive notification of potential issues before end users are impacted and much more.
Register for Webcast
Comments (3)
cloud computing By Anonymous on July 8, 2008, 8:14 pmSo if a company has specific applications that it wants run in the cloud how is that managed? What about licensing ? If the cloud is only going to support some...
Reply | Read entire comment
Understanding the CloudBy Michael_Sheehan on July 9, 2008, 6:14 pmI think this line from your article really sums it all up: "Eventually users can focus on what the service delivers rather than how they are implemented or hosted."...
Reply | Read entire comment
C++ related example of cloud computingBy Brian on February 3, 2009, 1:40 am I work on a site that writes C++ middleware based on user input. The service has been on line since 2002. The site is http://webEbenezer.net. This approach...
Reply | Read entire comment
View all comments