The term, cloud computing is being used to describe a continually growing list of computing products and services. Indeed, many people stretch the term to include on-premise IT implementations, sometimes known as ‘private clouds’. Unfortunately, definition stretching can render the term cloud computing meaningless. In effect, terminology pollution of this kind helps legacy IT suppliers to slow the adoption of IT as a service and the migration to a utility model of computing. They prefer to continue gouging huge amounts of capital from their customers and to describe their current offerings as ‘private clouds’.
A great way to simplify the concept of cloud computing is to list the key attributes of cloud computing using non technical terminology that non IT specialists can understand. Buyers of IT products and services can use such a list to determine where their computing resources sit on the cloud computing spectrum. They can also use it as a roadmap to determine what needs to be undertaken or negotiated in order to reap the benefits of cloud computing.
16 key attributes of cloud computing are as follows:
1. Cloud computing offerings are services, not products
2. Cloud computing allows customers to increase and decrease the number of users that have access to services, exponentially
3. Cloud computing allows customers to provision new services to users instantly or within hours
4. Cloud computing turns computing resources into operational expenses rather than capital expenditure
5. Cloud computing enables organizations to pay for computing resources based on consumption of the resources in question
6. Cloud computing allows multiple, diverse customers to share computing resources
7. Cloud computing service enhancements, such as updates, are automatic
8. Cloud computing resources can be accessed using any Internet-enabled device, from any location
9. Cloud computing integrates security into services
10. Cloud computing eliminates the need for support contracts
11. Cloud computing costs less than on-premise alternatives
12 Cloud computing allows the purchase of services without human interaction
13. Cloud computing integrates automatic backup into services
14. Cloud computing services are delivered from remote locations
15. Cloud computing services are delivered by a third party
16. Cloud computing services are delivered via the Internet or via an IP VPN
A spectrum of attributes like the one above allows us to illustrate where a service fits with respect to cloud computing. For example, services provided by public cloud vendors such as Salesforce.com, Netsuite and SuccessFactors satisfy most of these attributes. Hence, it seems reasonable to refer to their offerings as cloud computing services.
‘Private clouds’ typically satisfy comparatively few of these attributes. Hence, it seems unreasonable to refer to such offerings as cloud computing services.
If organizations seek the agility and flexibility offered by cloud computing, they must consider purchasing services that offer as many of these attributes as possible.
