Why are people more interested in cloud computing?

I was thinking about this today as I see a good service that offers me CRM on their servers.
Cloud Computing is going to suffer from the terminology. Many companies are already using it without real knowledge when they create a youtube channel for their business they are moving digital assets and somewhat control outside of their own digital server environment. Cloud Computing is hard to grasp as the internet already seems like a cloud - my website comes from the ether ! This is not the Cloud ! Some reasons why I think businesses would make use of the Cloud

Share risk
Share marketing (cross marketing)
Share labour - building business structure is costly let the experts take that problem away for me and turn it into a solution albeit one that I start to loose control of (customer data ! - my dilema)

Note: Not to be confused with cloud hosting !

a) it is cheap
b) you have more storage space, than you would've had on a hard drive for instance
c) could-based applications can be accessed from anywhere
d) automatic and free updates

Cloud Computing is not a new thing but still it is a boon for Medium, Small and Micro level enterprises (MSMEs) as more and more companies are finding it affordable. Cloud computing is portable, affordable, flexible, feasible and is having a good service quality. Besides the lack of awareness on Cloud Computing, security is the other concern of prospective users which is affecting the pace of growth in Cloud Computing solution and application software demands. The security & privacy concerns of the prospective users' need to be addressed. You can check this interesting article about cloud computing:
http://www.cloudcomputingpoint.com/what-is-cloud-computing-3/

Reread my comments. Cloud computing is not necessarily cheaper. You always have to cost analyze and purchase when you are any sized business. I disagree about the Cloud notation being sexy. It is a genuine paradigm shift.

Dennis, my apologies for the name error.

I think you lost the discussion when you insulted me. You also showed bad manners, true unprofessionalism and just plain old bad taste.

Sad you are unable to expound on those 20 years of experience except to insult and to repeat yourself.

Since I've been in the Information Technology business for 30 years, have written for many years for such magazines as VAR Business, Network World, and Law Technology Product News among others, I'd say I'm just a little more than a blogger.

While you may be correct at the end of the day, and I may be wrong, you are so wrong in your inability to discuss and join related words together in a rationale and supportive, cogent manner.

I'm glad you are not my Consultant; oh before I forget, Consultants advise, they don't tell, and you advise with persuasive arguments, not insults. Oh, I'm sorry, I repeated myself...

Cloud computing may help a new business - or not, it is a case by case decision. Some businesses cannot stand the restrictions of cloud computing, but many can. I think this is the same as what Dennis said. Here are some benefits and downsides:

1. Benefit: speed of implementation:
1.1 no need to spend time acquiring space, electric capacity, cooling, etc. (Similar to colocation)
1.2 No need to spend time setting up machines
1.3 Because of economies of scale you have access to more operating system expertise than you would pay for in a single business, and you do not need to pay that expertise for as many hours NOTE: to be prudent you still need local expertise to choose the correct cloud solution!

2. Downside: limited customization - you are restricted to the solutions that are economical for the cloud provider. For example, if you require machines with certain video cards in them you may not be able to find that in the cloud.

3. Benefit: save significantly (but not totally) on continued administration: beyond the initial setup of systems there are many important system administration tasks that the cloud does for you:
3.1 continued upgrades in an intelligent manner (not just installing the latest updates because they are there). Here again you benefit from the economiy of scale that the cloud provider has: they can addord the staff and the time to research and try out the various upgrades. On the other hand you have the down side of not being able to pick some particular upgrade that fits just your situation.
3.2 Monitoring and reporting on system health and usage. If done locally, that is entirely additional work on top of just installing systems. It requires installing additional software for monitoring, or creating and maintaining an ad-hoc solution.

4. Downside: probably slower adoption of latest and greatest versions. For example if you want the most recent Linux version, that may not be available since it would expose the cloud provider to greater perceived risk. The provider will want to vet the new version and also see what other users find in it.

5. Benefit: Quick and easy scaling - up or down. This is where cloud computing shines. When you need more capacity you pay a marginal cost for it, and it is there immediately. No need to acquire and set up more machines or disks or whatever. When you no longer need the extra, drop it. I don't see a downside to this.

6. Financially you are trading off operating expense versus capital expense (make versus buy). This is helpful to many businesses - but it is another place where each business must condier for itself, as Dennis said.

7. Benefit: access to more powerful hardware. Again this is due to the economy of scale enjoyed by the clod provider. It is also part of the make versus buy decision that every company decides for itself.

8. Benefit: Security. The cloud provider will set up the basic systems in a secure manner, not leaving obvious holes. Beyond that you and your local systems administrator (yes, you still need that) will need to be careful not to open holes, such as by choosing poor passwords. Physical security is better since you do not need to worry about someone breaking into your office to steal your server.

9. Downside: security: you are limited in your customization related to security. For example, if you want to restrict acccess for root logins, you may or may not be able to do that, based on the restrictions of the provider. Also, you are required to trust the provider. Again, a tradeoff: trusting the provider's staff in addition to your own, versus physical security and systems expertise.

Clearly there are many opportunities for tradeoffs. To repeat what Dennis said, "you have to do your homework".

From my experience working with different cloud platforms (iLand, Terremark, Softlayer, Amazon EC2) I like the idea of not having to worry about underlying hardware anymore. Disk drive failures, server outages are not my concern anymore.

So, some pros would be:
- 'layer' between hardware prone to errors and service I need (virtual servers, applications)
- ease of management (especially VMware vCloud Director based clouds)
- flexibility in CPU/RAM/HDD provisioning
- easy deployment of hundreds of VM's at once
- API's
- very low rate of cloud provider outages
- accessible from everywhere

Cons would be:
- very dependant on cloud provider support teams (some are really lousy - from my exp)
- some cloud providers have problems with advanced management features
- migration strategies don't exist (seems that most cloud providers are oriented towards test/dev environments, and not so much on enterprise business)
- some cloud providers tend to charge absolutely everything (Terremark goes so deep that it charges protocol used - like TCP, FTP, etc)

After all, what I see as the real benefit is low administration and management costs, no need to upgrade hardware (EVER AGAIN) and also, pay-as-you-go usage type that suits test/dev teams. And from financial side, there is no CapEx, it's all OpEx, which gives you better flexibility in budgeting phase.

Excellent comments by Calvin. He gets it big time. Every new shift in techology is given a label whether you like it or not. Cloud nomenclature is here to stay. Like it or not. Sexy or not sexy.

"The Cloud" is NOT a new concept.

Starting in the late 1960s, a remote computing -- "time sharing" -- was a means to access the power of large computers without having to own one. While the network speeds were very slow by today's standards, it was useful for those who did not need full-time access to a mainframe. There were some commercial implementations, e.g., healthcare financial and clinical applications. Those shared-services applications are still running today, albeit transformed/evolved to "the cloud" and with significantly higher network bandwidth and improved economics. But the underlying principals are mostly unchanged, albeit with evolved tooling. The security challenges are also, generically, the same.

Between the early implementations and today there were two primary technical revolutions that masked the continued use of shared services. The first one was the minicomputer, that challenged some of the positive economics of shared computing. The second one was personal computing, further challenging the economics but enabling new modes of peer-to-peer and client-server architectures. However, the economics still favor a shared approached when the total cost of computer ownership is considered.

"The Cloud" is a commercial realization and packaging of those economics. Why are more people interested? It's simply a new and more technically-savvy generation coming to appreciate an old and still very viable idea.

No, the cloud is nothing new. It's been around long enough for 70% of companies to find a good use for it in their daily processes. See 7 ways they're using the cloud today: http://bit.ly/tTfGgO

My last comment on this topic.

Consumers are already interested in Cloud Computing for backup. Look at Apple's iCloud.

SMB's especially startups do not want expensive IT staff. They would rather let someone else manage and backup their stuff.

Large Companies are going to the Cloud at the see fit. They will continue to watch the Cloud segment and jump on as they see fit.

It is a Cloud World. Like it or not.

Cloud computing offers flexibility on a number of different levels. Pricing, staffing, implementation, etc.

More people see the cloud as a way to get access to technologies that they didn't necessarily have access to previously, or at a good price point. As Dennis said, the cloud isn't always cheap, but it is often cheaper (for smaller organizations) than building out all the infrastructure for oneself.

-ASB: http://XeeMe.com/AndrewBaker

The Cloud is based on previous technologies but it is a true paradigm shift

Sometimes your cannot see what is in front of you. That is sticking your head in the sand and protecting the status quo. You do not understand the big picture. I do.

It does not matter what you call it. It is a true paradigm shift. I do not care what a dictionary says. You are not learned. Just a blogger that is ignorant. Period. My name is not Dan it Dennis. Please read before you comment.

Apologize to Wayne. Wayne's points are very good. Cloud is sexy but so were MF then Minis then Internet then www and client-server. Every era has some type of hype. The new era is Cloud hype whether you like it or not.

I you don't want to hire me as a consultant that is fine with me. Ditto.

Hype, pure and simple.

We've had "Cloud" computing ever since there were leased lines to mini's/mainframes. Nothing except technology has changed, but the term is "Cloud", its sexy, its a buzzword and people feel that it may (and many times isn't, depending on the size of your company, etc.) cheaper.

Alex gives some reasons why the Cloud may be better in letters b & C, whereas letters a & d are again part of the hype. You already have "free" updates to some extent, or you pay for an annual maintenance agreement for mission critical applications.

Robert gives a more coherent and expanded definition, whereas I just have to disagree with Dennis. The Cloud isn't cheaper since you still need a network, an infra-structure and now if you move to mission-critical in the Cloud, redundant and resilient connections to the Internet.

Redundant is for arguments sake twice as expensive, but resilient, now where talking much more expensive (especially if it's done correctly). Where is that savings?

While the Cloud offers aspects that are great (especially in decentralized and demographically separated business units) Robert hit the nail on the head - You need to ascertain for your specific situation whether the ROI is worth shifting to the Cloud.