How Cloud Computing Will (already has) Transformed Enterprise Computing
By Chuck Johnson
President PhoenixSoft, Inc.
Board Member, TAG Enterprise 2.0 Society
There is no shortage of definitions of cloud computing. See the article in Cloud Computing Journal 21 Experts Define Cloud Computing. And yes, there are 21 different definitions and many of them have significant differences. Needless to say, the definition is subject to a variety of interpretations. The latest Gartner report on Cloud Computing Systems did not include Google (their app engine was seen as an application infrastructure) or Microsoft (Azure was seen as a services platform). You have to take these things with a 'grain of salt' – Gartner's report did not have Amazon in the 'leader's quadrant'. One general description that I like is that cloud computing involves the delivery of hosted services over the Internet that are sold on demand (by time, amount of service and/or amount of resources), that are elastic (users can have as much or as little of a service or resource as they need), and that are managed by the [service] provider.
I attended a recent TAG Enterprise 2.0 Society meeting (un-conference). During the discussions, one of the participants asked "how do we go about starting to use cloud computing?" The first thought that came to mind was "you already are". If you socialize on Facebook or LinkedIn, if you collaborate/network using Ning or Google Groups, if you Twitter, if you get your Email via Gmail or Hotmail, or if you use Saleforce.com then you are already using cloud computing - using applications/services that, in some form, run in the cloud.
