Bruce McCracken, Senior Research Analyst
So you may have picked up that we just love the Cloud at the Horses. As we’ve discussed at length, we see Cloud Computing as the coming-together of business process and IT delivery in a fully outsourced model (see earlier post).
Cloud’s not simply about outsourcing the heavy-duty computing grunt – it’s about the delivery of real business services, enabled by the applications needed to support them, and powered by the requisite computing and network infrastructure to host and deliver them. Moreover, Cloud computing represents a crucial next layer of cost-elimination from the corporate infrastructure. While many moons off being actual reality, the seeds have been planted and we see entire industries scurrying to develop applications, datacenters and managed services to support it.
So we asked our new senior research analyst, Bruce McCracken (sorry Bruce…) to investigate some new trends, based on an interesting study recently conducted by Cloud based SaaS email management provider Mimecast, involving 565 respondents from the US and Canada. Over to you, Mr S…Cloud – The Delicate Sound of Thunder
No, this is not about a Pink Floyd performance on DVD. It is about improving IT performance and reducing costs while increasing server capacity on demand as needed, right here/right now. A recent survey shows who is doing what, and why (or why not). While many mull the onslaught of perspectives on the subject of Cloud, we will succinctly submit yet another for you. There are a few important points and takeaways that we want to zero in on:
• Even smaller organizations can gain immediate benefit from Cloud now.
• Setting up a road map to move the least critical, complex and risky applications first pays immediate benefits.
• Service providers are now offering robust tools to significantly alleviate the pain of accessing the Cloud.
• Are concerns about security déjà vu all over again, reminiscent of similar worries regarding SaaS and outsourcing providers several years ago?
How Cloud is going to revolutionize IT and which industries are using it
Cloud essentially involves pay as you infrastructure for applications and storage from a third party provider. Cloud gives organizations an inexpensive, easy, and quick way of adding new servers and hosting new Web based applications with little upfront investment. Through Cloud, data centers can be built out without having to expand the physical floor space and hardware procurement. The “on demand” nature of Cloud allows for a rapid expansion of the data center without the hassles of server maintenance by internal staff. The business will also see a marked reduction in its utility consumption. The value proposition for adopting Cloud is compelling to say the least.
Cloud based SaaS email management provider Mimecast, released results in February 2010 of its Cloud Computing Adoption Survey, involving 565 respondents from the US and Canada.
Click here to download the full article: Cloud – the Delicate Sound of Thunder
Posted in : Cloud Computing, IT Outsourcing / IT Services, SaaS, PaaS, IaaS and BPaaS
Great piece, Bruce – an insightful look at the trends,
Stephen