It's an important question, and for CIOs at big global enterprises,
I have no argument with the notion that cloud computing's
advantages come packed with some serious risks.
For small and midsize businesses, though, many of the objections to
cloud computing simply don't hold the same power. Barry X Lynn,
Chairman and CEO of 3Tera, says SMBs "can't afford not to do cloud
computing right now."
Of course, 3tera is the maker of the AppLogic cloud computer
platform, so he can hardly be accused of being unbiased. But he
makes some intersting points about how cloud computing can have
transformative effects on cash-strapped smaller companies:
"The most important thing, aside from specific savings, is that
SMBs can now afford to do the things they couldn't do on their own.
Not just do the same things for less money."
"When SMBs need to build an IT infrastructure," Lynn explains,
"they can't go out there and start licensing great enterprise
software." They simply can't afford it. That means no
production-ready database clusters, no Oracle supported apps
servers. Instead, they have to compromise and piece together an
infrastructure with software they can afford, often open
source.
"In the cloud, however, the infrastructure comes with the
software," Lynn says, and you license what you need in "bite-sized
pieces." You don't have to spend zillions of dollars, you just pay
for what you use. It's the same world-class software, just scaled
down. And having equivalent technology can make a big difference in
leveling the playing field when competing against larger
companies.
Just as important to Lynn, cloud apps and infrastructure can often
be deployed in hours rather than the months it can take to build,
integrate, configure, test, and deploy in-house systems. SMBs need
to be agile to avoid being crushed, and long delays can be
crippling.
Finally, there is the issue of the intellectual capital it takes
for SMBs to create and manage their own IT infrastructure. "If you
think good intellectual capital is unlimited and free, then there's
no problem," he says. But if you'd rather spend your limited and
expensive intellectual capital on making money for your company
than on your IT infrastructure, cloud computing starts to look a
lot more attractive. SMBs, he says, should outsource anything that
isn't a core, differentiating value.
So what's the problem
Of course,
there's no such thing as a free lunch, so I asked Lynn about issues
with integrating cloud computing apps and infrastructure with
legacy technology. SMBs may not have as much legacy tech as
enterprises do, but they also don't have the same level of
resources to handle integration tasks.
Surprisingly, Lynn didn't think legacy integration was the big
problem, claiming that it's no harder than other types of
integration and that basic APIs and Web services would be
sufficient in most cases. The vendors need to supply that API, he
says, adding that, "I think that's going to happen fairly easily
over the next couple of years," especially since there are already
some APIs out there.
Instead, Lynn says, the real problem is inter-cloud integration:
making things portable from cloud to cloud -- from Amazon to
Force.com to Azure, etc. People want portability, Lynn says.
"That's a totally different question being heaviily debated as to
how that's going to happen."
Bonus: A somewhat unrelated, but
interesting quote from Lynn: "Virtualization is a
hammer. The cloud is carpentry."