Gartner: Brace yourself for cloud computing
Gartner analyst David Cearley
(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET)ORLANDO, Fla.--Cloud computing isn't going to be vapor much longer, Gartner said Tuesday.
The general idea--shared computing services accessible over the Internet that can expand or contract on demand--topped Gartner's list of the 10 top technologies that information technology personnel need to plan for. It's complicated, poses security risks, and computing technology companies are latching onto the buzzword in droves, but the phenomenon should be taken seriously, said analyst Dave Cearley here at the Gartner Symposium.
Gartner's top trends to watch.
(Credit: Gartner)Specifically, companies should figure out what cloud services might give them value, how to write applications that run on cloud services, and whether they should build their own private clouds that use Internet-style networking technology within a company's firewall.
Cloud computing takes several forms, from the nuts and bolts of Amazon Web Services to the more finished foundation of Google App Engine to the full-on application of Salesforce.com. Companies should figure out what if any of those approaches are most suited to their challenges, Gartner said.
Gartner analyst Carl Claunch
(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET)The advice came as part of a talk on top trends coming in 2010 that companies should incorporate into their strategic planning, if not necessarily their own computer systems. The full list of 10: 1. cloud computing; 2. advanced analytics; 3. client computing; 4. IT for green; 5. reshaping the data center; 6. social computing; 7. security--activity monitoring; 8. flash memory; 9. virtualization for availability; and 10. mobile applications.
Second on the list is virtualization--not just in the broad sense of technology that lets a single computer run multiple operating systems simultaneously, where it's become a fixture in data centers, but as a means to keep computing services up and running despite computer failures, said analyst Carl Claunch.
Virtual machines can be moved from one physical machine to another today. Later, by keeping two machines tightly synchronized, a failure in a primary machine can be eased over rapidly by moving the active service to the backup machine, Claunch said.
"We should start seeing this roll out in the next year or two from vendors," he said.
The Gartner hype cycle takes on the PC.
(Credit: Gartner)For PCs, virtualization is arriving, too.
"Think of applications in bubbles," Cearley said. "They can run on client devices or up on a server," with virtualization providing the encapsulation technology to move the work around. The official corporate computing environment can run side by side with employees' home computing environment.
That, along with cloud computing, enables more freedom for people using PCs.
"We're looking at a time when the specific operating system and device options matter a lot less," Cearley said. "You could use a home PC or a Macintosh with a managed corporate image running on that particular device...We see more companies providing a stipend (for) employee-owned PCs."
Make your data center modular.
(Credit: Screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)Another idea: modular data centers. You don't have set up your IT gear in storage containers, but do divide them into pods that each have their own computing, power, and cooling, Claunch said. That makes it easier to pay as you go, to adapt to new technologies, and to increase energy efficiency by partitioning hot hardware from cooler hardware.
Green IT is important--and changing in its nature. It's not just a matter of buying efficient computers, but also of using computers to increase the efficiency of other parts of the business, Cearley said. For example, analytics can improve the efficiency of transportation of goods.
Next comes applications for mobile devices. "That has great potential for creating different experience or stickiness for your customers," Cearley said.
And mobile x86 processors from Intel and AMD could make software development easier, too, he added.
Social networking will happen internally and externally.
(Credit: Gartner)Social-networking applications, broadly defined, also should be on company radar screens. The technology can take the form of internal corporate social networks, interactions with customers, and use of public services such as Facebook and Twitter.
Companies need to get a handle on what's going on--and potentially business purposes such as understanding how the corporate brand is perceived.
"Social network analysis will be moving from a somewhat arcane discipline to a much more mainstream component of your social computing strategy," Cearley said.
Stephen Shankland writes about a wide range of technology and products, but has a particular focus on browsers and digital photography. He joined CNET News in 1998 and since then also has covered Google, Yahoo, servers, supercomputing, Linux and open-source software, and science. E-mail Stephen, or follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/stshank. 
Gaining access to a single point of failure (say GoogleApps, Zimbra) where corporate information would reside presents a fairly easier and direct surface of exploitation.
I'll wait for the first big disaster to wipe out some huge piece of the cloud infrastructure and see if it causes any problems.
Until then, cloud computing is in the clouds.
A main idea of cloud computing is spreading around data and processes so that some loss of hardware wouldn't crash everything. A loss of power to your servers shouldn't cripple you.
I do agree that it will not be secure, so for this to work some big movement in encryption needs to happen.
At least not the way I understand it to be.
Fourth, and perhaps the most important, no business worth it's salt will trust it's proprietary data to another company. There is no guarantee of security and if you can't secure your data, you might as well just hand out your products for free and go bankrupt.
Are there ever going to be any tech journalists that actually know what the eff they're covering?
The media needs to write about something, and it's always easy just to repeat a news release or presentation from somebody selling something. But no matter how many times they say this, it's not going to happen.
A SAAS or virtualized app will just be another app as far as the user is concerned. We must start providing business with the technology to automate processes across any app that "appears" on their workstation, in one cloud, in one bubble, or lots of them.
If my internet provider is having a problem and my programs and my data are out on the cloud, well, I'm out of business. If a strom knocks down a cable, I'm out of business.
I have computers, I have backups of my data; I need the "cloud" and its associated technical problems and slow speeds like I need a hole drilled into my head.
Except for relatively large companies with IT staffs I doubt the "cloud" is going to catch on any time soon.
Sarcasm aside, the cloud is far from ready for mission-critical applications, as salesforce.com, Sidekick and others have famously demonstrated.
Google docs only works because it's free.
But cloud computing, like if my PC is connected to the internet in idle mode and gives bandwidth and CPU to other devices, I'm not too happy about that!
Neither do I see 3D gaming to become 'cloud computing'!
There's absolutely no reason to do cloud computing other than to have a central database of whatever everyone is doing, that is open to crashes and attacks; and to have a computer without drive (diskspace), but spends that energy of the HD (or even more) to downloading information wirelessly!
Cloud computing is nothing new, and it fails!
Whenever possible, it certainly makes sense to backup your data locally for the exact reason mentioned: if your network connection goes down, you have access only to your local machine. However, this doesn't take away from its value as a high-power, relatively low-cost application hosting service, high-volume data storage service, and the access portability it provides.
Jason (collaborating with M80, representing Microsoft)
What security are we talking about? Is it data security, secured data access, data transport security, or the security of the machine. People mind set is biased to belive that physical possesion of objects to their proximity is secured. Consider this scenario (1). If enterprises keep their data base server in a highly secured room with only authorized persons entering the room with biometric access to the room, does it mean that the data is secured? If your firewall is porus, anybody with userid, password credential can steal your data and you will be foolishly providing infrastruture, real estate, IT, data and maintainance cost, while the stealer steals your data created, managed and maintaned all at your cost. Now reverse the scenario (2), let the cloud provider manage the hardware, infrastruture, IT, maintanance for you and you just create your own virtual machine and your own database server in that virtual machine and store and consume the data and you do the DB Admin and securly access the data. Which scenario gives you more security? It is the data security which is important and not the infrastruture and hardware security.
Nonetheless, the concerns of the cloud skeptics are certainly legitimate. You should do the necessary research before storing your data with any cloud computing service provider to make sure this company has taken the needed precautions to secure your data. Service providers do vary in this respect.
For an example of the steps Microsoft has taken for their cloud computing platform, Windows Azure, see their security whitepaper: http://bit.ly/SecuringTheCloud
- by bnara October 28, 2009 11:43 AM PDT
- Great to see Gartner give so much attention to cloud computing. A clear sign that enterprises are ready and willing to start investigating the cloud. We enjoyed attending many of the sessions (read more here http://blog.appirio.com/)
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