Who's doing what? How's it all going? What are the lingering unresolved issues - and who is working on solving them? These were some of the questions covered in this Closing Power Panel at the 6th Cloud Expo held at the Prague Hilton Hotel in Prague, Czech Republic. The panel, moderated by Cloud Expo Chair Jeremy Geelan, was composed of Denis Martin, EVP & CTO, NaviSite Inc.; Richard Stone, Senior Solution Manager at Compuware; Larry Carvalho, RobustCloud and 2010 Instructor and Presenter of Cloud Expo's Cloud Computing Bootcamp; and Mamoon Yunus; CEO, Crosscheck Networks.

In response to the first question: "What is your company is doing in the cloud?"Denis Martin started off by explaining that Navisite offers a cloud service that targets the mid-market enterprise customer.

"Compuware sponsors a website called cloudsleuth.net, a cloud performance visualization tool," said Stone. This site provides users with a continuously updating view into the performance of cloud service providers in real time around the globe.

At RobustCloud, Carvalho noted that he is helping customers move to the cloud by providing educational training and helping them set guidelines and roadmaps

Crosscheck Networks works with the U.S. Treasury, explained Yunus. When you submit your taxes online, the moment you click the submit button, your information moves to the U.S. Treasury. And it's that process that Crosscheck protects; they provide a level of reliability and security for those transactions.

"What in your quest for the cloud helps and what is the most difficult," was the next question posed by Geelan.

Carvalho noted that ISVs have on-premise solutions and that when they do a rewrite they need a good roadmap to take the right steps to move applications to the cloud.

"We face three challenges with customers: security, the ability to integrate, and performance," observed Martin. These challenges are becoming easier to overcome though as most customers have implemented their own cloud, so there is not as much skepticism toward the cloud.

"Security is top of mind for most customers," stated Stone. "Customers get fixated on security, and not so much on the technology." He believes it's the changing of the process that people need to adopt. When IT moves to cloud, it's a change in mindset.

According to Yunus, the transition is less about the technology and more about convincing the CIO that the company is not leaving anything behind, that they can transition without exposing the enterprise.

Regarding the adoption of the cloud, all panelists agreed that the government and public sector were the leaders in cloud adoption. And one reason for that, noted Stone, is that with the cloud you can "cut costs and provide better service."

Health care, financial companies and telcos were also some of the leaders in moving to the cloud.

When asked why companies needed a cloud strategy, Yunus answered that "business is about putting things together in an efficient manner. Cloud will become the core of how we conduct business."

"The market is growing so there is a huge benefit, especially if you are an ISV." Carvalho also said companies need to find out how they can take advantage of the cloud and spend less than they spend now. "Before undertaking a new project, ask if it's cloud capable," he continued, then create a roadmap and a goal for your company to achieve.

With the cloud "there is signicant OPEX savings, an increase in efficiency, and these technologies are not going away. The mainstream of IT is moving forward," stated Denis Martin.

Stone closed the Power Panel with the following: "If your business is based in cave or it's 1957, you probably don't need the cloud. Customers dictate how and when they want to do business. If you want to keep your customers, you need a cloud strategy to provide a compelling experience for your customers."