Common Misconceptions on Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is a phenomenon that has hit the IT industry with full force. There are many advantages with cloud computing, but as always with new processes come many misconceptions. Cath Everett from ZDNet has recently looked at the 5 most common myths about cloud computing. Here they are:

Myth 1: Cloud equals SaaS, grid and utility computing
Myth 2: Cloud computing will take over the world
Myth 3: You can use competing cloud services
Myth 4: Flick a switch and your IT shifts to the cloud.
Myth 5: Switching cloud vendors is easy

Take a couple of minutes to read through the full post here. Are there any other myths out there?

Use Web 2.0 to Move Forward Through the Economic Downturn

Dion Hinchcliffe recently posted on ZDNet a list of eight ways businesses should use Web 2.0 technology to move forward through the economic downturn. An advantage for businesses just entering the 2.0 era now is that most of the groundwork has already been laid out for them. There is an abundance of enterprise ready solutions out there. Now without further ado, here’s a quick list (provided by Dion Hinchcliffe) of strategic use of web 2.0 that companies should follow in 2009. Enjoy!

1. Move to lower-cost online/SaaS versions of enterprise applications.
2. Use Enterprise 2.0 to capture the knowledge and know-how of employees.
   
3. Strategically move IT infrastructure to the cloud.
   
4. Embrace new low-cost models for production such as crowdsourcing.
   
5. Lower customer service costs by pro-active use of online customer communities.
   
6. Reduce application development and integration time/expenditures with new platforms and techniques.
   
7. Open your supply chain to partners on the Web.
   
8. Overhauling and reinventing paper and digital workflow.

Read the full article here.

SOA Predictions for the New Year

Every year David Linthicum at InfoWorld makes his SOA predictions for the upcoming year (which he claims to be 90% right in the past few years). As detailed in this post on InfoWorld, here are his predictions in SOA for 2009. Do you agree?

1. The interest in cloud computing will drive many enterprises toward SOA.
2. The explosion in PaaS (platform-as-a-service) will leave many enterprise architects and CIOs scratching their heads.
3. The economy will recover, but most enterprises out there will focus on cost reduction.
4. There will be a larger focus on inter-domain SOA technology, or highly scalable and secure middleware technology that will provide scalable service and information access between the instances of SOAs within the enterprise, and
5. Jig will be up for poor SOA governance solutions out there.
6. Most failed SOA projects will be traced to unqualified SOA architects.
7. SOA the buzzword will become a bit less relevant and will begin to morph with concepts, such as enterprise architecture and cloud computing.

IBM is Bringing Business Networking Closer with Bluehouse

This post on ComputerWorld discusses how IBM has released Bluehouse, which merges social networking features with business collaboration tools. At first, Bluehouse will be free during the initial beta period, after testing has ends the SaaS product will be subject to subscription pricing, which has not been determined yet.

Like Facebook, Bluehouse will combined many collaboration tools such as instant messaging, document sharing, profiles, and tools to build business networking opportunities. One thing that will be different from Facebook is that Bluehouse has management features to help ensure privacy, and this is a feature that businesses have been looking for. Sean Poulley, vice president of IBM's online collaboration services seems to think that the current economic situation will encourage consumers to adopt SaaS with its subscription model. What are your thoughts?

Zoho Docs…At it again

Today I came across this post on eWeek which describes how Zoho is beating Google Apps to SaaS file management. Zoho is launching Zoho Docs, which unlike Google Apps, will be able to store files created in Zoho Writer, Zoho Sheets, and Zoho Show.

Zoho is making the productivity experience much easier for users since they can now use an online one-stop storage space for all of their files. Users will be able to edit, collaborate, share all of their files through Zoho Docs. Zoho is definitely giving Google a run for it’s money in Saas productivity apps.

Online Collaboration: Make Way for Microsoft

Google and Zoho watch out, Microsoft is taking aim at the same market these SAAS vendors have been eyeing. This article on eWeek highlights that Microsoft is launching several online services that will include collaboration tools and enterprise applications. Microsoft will release the following products as online subscription services: Microsoft Exchange Online, Microsoft Office SharePoint Online, Microsoft Office Communications Online, Microsoft Office Live Meeting, and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online.

Microsoft still seems to be light-years away in terms of online collaboration. Companies like Salesforce.com and Netsuite have integrated many enterprise applications that were designed for the Web, whereas Microsoft is new to the game. Should companies fear the arrival of Microsoft in this space?

Google’s Cloud: Is the Enterprise Truly Ready?

Google is often seen as a fierce competitor to IBM and Microsoft since it has seen a surge in numbers of adoption of Google Apps, but its enterprise cloud structure isn’t quite where it should be yet. Searching the blogosphere, I came across this article from eWeek, in which Dave Rosenberg, CEO of MuleSource, shares that he is rather unimpressed with Google’s cloud, commenting that just because something is hosted it doesn’t make it a truly shared infrastructure.

The difference here between Google and other software is that Google’s services are delivered through a web browser, whereas other companies offer traditional software and servers that must be installed by the client. Dave Rosenberg mentions:

"We're seeing a lot of people who are using our software or other software between external systems, but the idea that we're all moving to the cloud is still probably five years away."

Dave believes that there are certain reasons why the enterprise is slow to move into the “cloud”.

1. SAAS providers like Salesforce.com keep customers locked into their own technology, thus defeating the purpose of SOA.
2. The Google Apps engine is written in only one language, Python. If there was more language support, adoption from the enterprise would come much sooner.

Rosenberg’s solution is that one of the 3 big vendors IBM, Sun or Hewlett-Packard must build huge datacenters to kick-start the future of cloud infrastructure in the enterprise. Do you think that step will truly help mold the use of the “cloud” in the enterprise?

Microsoft/Yahoo! Deal Officially Off

With Microsoft officially receding their offer to buy Yahoo! this week, Google is now in a prime position to overtake the enterprise software market within a few years, according to this recent news article at EWeek.

Even though Google is a small player now, the shift in the software business is moving towards “in the clouds” and SAAS. This primes Google to be a front runner within five years of this new, emerging way to operate. Inevitably, Microsoft is now going to have to catch up with Google, and find a way to launch themselves ahead of the already innovation-heavy giant.

With the failure of Vista, Microsoft needs to find a way to move their current profit equation into something that is more low-margin and which is supported by selling a high volume of products. The reason Yahoo! was so appealing was the fact that they had invested and developed cloud computing. Now, Microsoft must find a way to create this internally.

At Search Engine Land Danny Sullivan thinks that Microsoft has spent the past few years chasing after Google in terms of internet search, while Google has been slowly inching in on enterprise software, and now Yahoo is left with running ads of its chief competitor on its website.

So what’s next for both companies? One thing is for sure, Yahoo! is still going to struggle to keep up with Google. And Microsoft needs to find a way to adapt to the oncoming evolution of software in the clouds.

Open source software predictions in 2008

Dave Rosenberg’s latest post predicts what he envisions happening in 2008 with the software industry. He sees that the only way to start a company that involves software is to have it enable open sources or SAAS.

Some of the major things he sees for open source are:
-- Break-out stars (like MySQL)
--Consolidation by big vendors (like Oracle) or stronger OSS players (like Red Hat)
-- Fire sales at the companies that got funded but couldn't make it happen.

Dave also expects to see more business people becoming involved with the open source scene, and that business models will become more prevalent when it comes to the industry. What do you foresee happening this year?