Cloud Computing: A Sustaining or Disruptive Innovation?

Organizations that run data centers and plan to implement private clouds will find that it is not enough to provide automated, self-service virtualization. Private clouds will need to offer the same level of scalability and platform services (e.g., highly scalable queuing functionality) as their public counterparts -- and will need to deliver it at the same kind of price points as they do.

A telling analysis of the primary cited shortcoming of public clouds -- security -- was shared with me by a cloud analyst at a leading firm. User concern about public cloud security, he said, drops away dramatically at around the two year mark -- once the user gets familiar enough and comfortable with the security capability of the public provider. At that point, he stated, the user organization begins to strongly embrace the public option due to its ease of self-service, vast scalability, and low cost. Those organizations that reach that two year milestone quickly turn their back on previous private cloud plans, concluding they are no longer necessary, given the increased comfort with the public option.

This tells me that the benchmark for private cloud computing will not be, is it better than what went before -- the static, expensive, slow- responding infrastructure options of traditional data center operations. The benchmark will be the functionality of the public providers -- the agile, inexpensive, easily scalable infrastructure offered via gigantic server farms operated with high levels of administrative automation and powered by inexpensive commodity gear.

Cloud Computing: A Sustaining or Disruptive Innovation?

See also: The Psychology of Collaboration - Technology Review Great idea in this article about sharing bookmarks...