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Is Cloud Computing Like Teenage Sex?

Everyone talks about it, few actually do it, and even fewer do it right
By Walter Pinson
Article Rating:
July 2, 2009 10:00 PM EDT
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 6,186

It was once said back in the early ‘90s that “Client/server computing is a little like teenage sex – everyone talks about it, few actually do it, and even fewer do it right.  Nevertheless, many people believe client/server computing is the next major step in the evolution of corporate information systems.”

Can the same be said about cloud computing, today?

It is evident that cloud computing is the next major step in computing, in general.  But is it the next major step in the evolution of corporate information systems?  Everyone is certainly talking about it; but who is actually doing it?

According to Pew Research, anyone with a Gmail or YouTube account is participating in the cloud computing revolution.  Perhaps I need to change my perspective about cloud computing in order to agree with them.  The Pew report focuses on end-user adoption of cloud-based services, or SaaS.  The way I see it, end-users don’t engage in cloud-based computing.  End-users use applications.  Regardless, neither Gmail nor YouTube represent an evolution in corporate information systems.

So again, what corporations are engaged in cloud computing?

Kevin Jackson and Peter Laird have started some interesting analysis on Cloud Computing mindshare.  It is not surprising that, in Kevin’s analysis, the usual suspects show up in the top three (3):  Amazon, Google, and Microsoft.  But these three represent companies that have made huge infrastructure investments and are figuring out how to gain further returns from those investments.  What they don’t represent is the adoption of cloud computing by the managers of corporate information systems.

It seems that information on which companies are adopting cloud computing is hard to come by.  For this reason, Peter Laird issues a call to action at the end of his post; “Cloud vendors, what can you say about your customers?  Please reveal.”

For now, at least, it looks like cloud vendors don’t kiss and tell.  That said, I can’t wait to be enlightened.

Published July 2, 2009 – Reads 6,186
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More Stories By Walter Pinson

Walter Pinson is the Chief Software Architect at SMBLive; whose IAmFound social marketing platform helps SMBs (small and medium-sized businesses) get discovered online and generate inbound sales leads. In his role as CSA, Walter manages a globally distributed product development group and has SaaS products deployed at major telecommunications channel partners in the US, UK, Switzerland, Canada, and Mexico. Additionally, Walter is a co-founder and principal of Pinson3 Systems; a boutique software engineering concern serving the intelligence and defense sectors with solutions ranging from enterprise web-based multi-modal biometric analysis systems to information warfare training systems. Prior to his role at SMBLive and founding Pinson3 Systems, Walter was a Senior Strategy Consultant with Microsoft focused on SaaS, SOA, and .NET adoption in the telecommunications sector. Walter has published articles for Cloud Computing Journal, is a member of ACM and IEEE, and currently has one patent pending. He holds a bachelor's degree in computer science from The Volgenau School of Information Technology and Engineering at George Mason University, where he focused on distributed and parallel computing. Walter is currently working on his MBA at the GMU School of Management.