...the required reliance on providers that a complete cloud deployment would entail.
Today organisations are taking advantage of cloud computing across the entire application lifecycle based on specific resource requirements. They are capitalising on the relatively inexpensive and rapidly provisioned compute in the cloud to extend their datacentres and their ability to scale.
These facilities allow them to meet business and customer demands, and to decrease the operational costs of managing and maintaining hundreds of duplicated servers and systems.
They're using cloud computing as a utility, in a manner that makes sense given the technological and architectural state of computing and networking.
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And that is leading to some challenges in networking, in application delivery and in management. Those challenges are leading to innovation in those problem areas, many of which have not radically changed since their inception.
New computing model
Vendors are rethinking systems and updating them to adapt to this new model of computing and of resources on-demand. These innovations may in fact result in systems that make the need to evolve further not only unnecessary, but impractical. Cloud computing as it exists today is forcing change in every corner of the network to adapt to the challenges of the new model. Those solutions are often viewed as stop-gaps that, once cloud matures, will no longer be needed.
But it may be the case that reality works the other way around: cloud computing maturation will no longer be needed precisely because of the innovation it engenders. If the cloud never matures, perhaps it's because it doesn't need to. It will simply change the very fabric of computing as we know it.
In fact it may be the case that the cloud revolution isn't about the cloud at all, but about the way it has pulled the rug from under our complacent view of networking and application delivery and is forcing that view to change, too.
Lori MacVittie is responsible for application services education and evangelism at application delivery firm F5 Networks. Her role includes producing technical materials and participating in community-based forums and industry standards organisations. MacVittie has extensive programming experience as an application architect, as well as in network and systems development and administration.
Talkback
A great article Lori and I agree wholeheartedly with the argument that it is not necessary for cloud computing to reach full maturation in order to provide benefits. Indeed, I would argue that the key to long term success is innovation and in such a changeable environment it is flexibility, such as that provided by SaaS operators, which makes them a great business choice.
It’s interesting that you mention “A few have ventured into load balancing as a service, but almost none has taken the next steps to cloud computing maturity that require infrastructure as a service.” I think a lot of cloud computing and SaaS organisations are developing IaaS services, at 4Projects we have an ‘Enterprise’ agreement that allows companies to effectively own their own piece of our technology on an ongoing basis as opposed to simply renting project by project.
We’re constantly adapting our collaboration software, allowing our clients to access a wealth of features. The system can be used from ‘cradle to grave’, from project inception to the ongoing management over the lifetime of an asset.”
A wealth of sectors are already embracing the use of collaborative software as a means to streamline complex management procedures saving both time and money as well as mitigating risk. Collaboration software solutions are ideally suited to the kind of business model which brings together so many disparate stakeholders and project requirements. All of this mean that although cloud computing has a lot of room for growth there is still plenty of potential to be found.