New Observations on Cloud Computing

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been at both the All About the Cloud event out in California which is the premier event for cloud focused ISVs, and then the IBM Innovate event, which is the premier event for software development.  Quite naturally cloud computing was a hot topics at both events.

In reflecting on what’s “new and different” about the cloud discussions of late – three observations come to mind –

1) The tone is much more serious and business oriented

While past events were full of hype, hoopla, hyperbole, and evangelists spouting about how cloud will change the world and change IT forever, the tone has now shifted.  Off all the presentations I saw or took part in, only one still had the mega-hype tonality.  The rest of the dialogue has finally shifted to cloud driving business results – cost savings, speed of innovation and implementation, deployment flexibility, etc.  These better business outcomes are always required for broader adoption of any technology solution, so it’s nice to see the shift finally taking place in the cloud space.  As Bill McNee of Saugatuck Technology pointed out in his keynote address – sometimes it just takes a good recession to get people focused on business outcomes again.

2) Growing recognition of IBM’s prowess in this space

Now that IBM has completed 2000+ cloud projects — and is working with 5 of the Fortune 10, and 50% of the Fortune 500 on cloud projects — clients and partners are realizing how powerful our solutions portfolio is for cloud computing.  We now have all of our major software available via the cloud, we have CPU, storage and compute functions rentable in the cloud, and we have a whole range of design, test, and implementation services for public and private cloud deployments.

3) Growing recognition of the importance of open standards and interoperability.

Given the growth of both public clouds and private clouds – there is now tremendous demand for a set of standards and interoperability.  IBM was pleased to be help the OMG Group launch the Cloud Standards Customer Council that now has over 150 members and meets again next week to continue the important work of building out a set of open standards.  You’ll see the members range from large telcos and Fortune 50 clients to small service providers and even universities.  The group already has some important use use cases and requirements for open cloud computing being drafted – so be sure to join (its free to join) and contribute to this important work for our industry.

What are your thoughts?  Are you seeing similar trends and themes?

SIIA All About the Cloud Event – brief report

I spent the last two days at the SIIA All About The Cloud Event in San Francisco – and as always it was a great event.  Some interesting insights this year that are worth sharing –

• Several panelists discussed how IDC’s estimates for cloud investments show that majority of revenue/opportunity is in private clouds.
• Bill McNee of Saugatuck Technology estimates that 40% of ISVs now are incorporating cloud delivery as part of their solution – those who don’t in next few years will be marginalized.
• Lots of discussion on how consumer trends are shaping enterprise needs and will demand cloud like ease of use similar to itunes or facebook or netflix.  Then today our IBM Chairman also remarked on this point – but didn’t exactly give it a ringing endorsement.   You can see some of his comments here. I tend to agree with him – and in many ways this “consumerization” theme rings hollow to me the same way the dot.com hype did back in the late 1990s.
• Despite all the buzz about cloud business models, most of the press panelists couldn’t name a consumer cloud provider making $ other than Google, Facebook, and Netflix.

It was also great to see that Feyzi Fatehi of Corent Technolgy – one of our best IBM cloud partners – was on one of the key panels at the event.

While I was at the event, I had the change to spend some time with Navisite – one of our newest cloud partners.  They have a great new cloud offering they announced a bit ago – the Navicloud – which is a great new offering for enterprise class cloud capabilities.

Let me know what you think – especially on the consumerization theme that’s been emerging…..

Cloud Computing Event – Coming Up in San Jose!

Join me at the SIIA On Demand Cloud Computing Event next week in San Jose!

Yep that’s me talking about cloud computing and the SIIA OnDemand conference.  And I meant what I said:  you should join me at the SIIA On Demand Conference (www.siia.net/ondemand) in San Jose.  This conference will have such great practical advice – we’ll be hearing from experts about how to drive more revenue in this tough economy.  They’ll talk about using social media marketing techniques, new pricing strategies, and lots of other ways you can see results quickly.  There’s also going to be a large forum for hearing actual real world success (and failures) that you can learn from and apply to your business.

As I mentioned in the video, if you come for the first day, you can join me at an IBM-hosted pre-conference event Oct. 28.  And come by and say hi on the second day, when I’ll be part of a panel discussing “Channel Strategies That Win: A View From the Top.”

Find out more about the conference at these links:

Look at the conference overview – http://www.siia.net/ondemand/
Join the LinkedIn group once you register:  http://bit.ly/odgroupmembers
Browse the current attendee list – http://www.siia.net/ondemand/2009/attendees.asp
Review the conference agenda –  http://www.siia.net/ondemand/2009/schedule.asp
Register today – http://www.siia.net/ondemand/2009/register.asp.  Enter promo code PRMSPKR and save $100.
I look forward to seeing you there!