(Published in Manila Standard Today under the Greenlight column, Spetember 7, 2009)
Major business and market trends are spurring the growth of cloud computing among companies and governments, even as this newly emerging IT concept is still being refined.
Cloud computing is an approach to a shared IT infrastructure in which large pools of computer systems are linked together to provide IT services. Cloud computing accesses "virtual" resources, and therefore, is not limited by the power and capabilities of local or remote computers. It is the next generation of enterprise data centers, which operate like the Internet, providing extreme scale and fast access to networked users. Cloud computing offers a simplified, centralized platform for use when needed, lowering costs and energy use. Unlike grid computing, which distributes IT for a specific task, cloud computing is used across an entire range of activities. The platforms can be externally hosted services, but are also used inside companies, especially those which operate globally.
The uses of cloud computing will increase over the next three-to-five-years because the following trends impacting business and consumers continue to accelerate:
The Web is interactive, not static
Today Web content is transformed every day by users around the world, who contribute and exchange information. Wikipedia, and YouTube are prominent public examples. In addition, social networking, and other collaborative tools are rapidly growing in use within company firewalls. Workers, especially those in research and development, use Web applications to collaborate on work projects across the globe.
Cloud computing meets the high-performance demands of the dynamic Web by using existing infrastructures to process massive amounts of information in split seconds.
To conduct online brainstorming sessions among their workers, for example, China Telecom and Sogeti, a European professional services firm, turned to internal cloud computing platforms. High performance cloud computing is able to collect input from 18,000 Sogeti employees, in real time, sort and analyze it for business use.
Energy Efficiency
As energy costs climb and concerns over carbon emissions increase, the need for energy efficient IT is gaining greater attention. Cloud computing is able to use IT resources efficiently, and reduces the amount of power needed to run data centers. According to Info-Tech Research Group, most computer servers run full time, but are used at only 10 to 20 percent of capacity. Cloud computing saves energy and operating costs by pooling IT resources. Its platforms are able to scale up or down as needed, putting computer power to use, rather than drawing energy while remaining idle.
Continued Innovation
Global competition means companies need to get new ideas to market faster, and they look to technology to help them speed up results. This need for continued innovation is a major driver of cloud computing, which offers robust computer power at lower cost.
At a Wuxi, China industrial park, tenants, mostly start-up software companies, are able to access an entire IT infrastructure by plugging in their computers. The industrial park worked with IBM to create a cloud computing center which it hosts for its tenants. IT is part of the industrial park's infrastructure, along with heat, lights and water. For software start-ups, this means lower costs in developing products. They avoid buying and operating their own servers, applications or tools and pay only for the IT services they actually use. Vietnam in 2008 established a cloud computing platform at its National University to build IT skills among its workforce more quickly.
Simplicity for users
Technology continues to grow more sophisticated, but users want IT to remain simple to use. Delivering software-as-a-service over the Internet is an example of the trend toward simplicity. It is also a precursor of cloud computing. By purchasing a service, rather than buying software outright, a company uses up-to-date software without the complexities and costs of managing or upgrading it.
Cloud computing brings similar simplicity to the entire range of IT. Some cloud computing platforms are hosted externally and purchased as a service. This is appealing for smaller firms that have limited technical staffs. However, many companies, especially larger firm, are likely to opt for internal platforms, especially in industries, such as finance, which require security and privacy.
Structure for vast amounts of information
The Web provides quick access to a huge quantity of information, but sorting through it is a challenge. Search technologies, such as Google, exist because of this need for order and structure as information expands faster than the human mind can assimilate.
Every day millions of Internet users contribute text, pictures, and audio to Web sites around the world. The Web's value as a tool for productivity could be jeopardized without the ability to find data that users need, quickly and accurately. Cloud computing brings order and structure by being able to integrate widely diverse kinds of information. It delivers more computing power for handling massive amounts of data, as well as a simpler infrastructure to manage complexity.
Over the next decade, cloud computing will continue to transform as it adapts and responds to these major business and market trends, which are likely to dominate the technology landscape long into the future.
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Reynaldo C. Lugtu, Jr. teaches management and marketing courses in the MBA Program of De La Salle University, Graduate School of Business. He may be e-mailed at rlugtu2002@yahoo.com or visit his blog at http://rlugtu.blogspot.com.
Major business and market trends are spurring the growth of cloud computing among companies and governments, even as this newly emerging IT concept is still being refined.
Cloud computing is an approach to a shared IT infrastructure in which large pools of computer systems are linked together to provide IT services. Cloud computing accesses "virtual" resources, and therefore, is not limited by the power and capabilities of local or remote computers. It is the next generation of enterprise data centers, which operate like the Internet, providing extreme scale and fast access to networked users. Cloud computing offers a simplified, centralized platform for use when needed, lowering costs and energy use. Unlike grid computing, which distributes IT for a specific task, cloud computing is used across an entire range of activities. The platforms can be externally hosted services, but are also used inside companies, especially those which operate globally.
The uses of cloud computing will increase over the next three-to-five-years because the following trends impacting business and consumers continue to accelerate:
The Web is interactive, not static
Today Web content is transformed every day by users around the world, who contribute and exchange information. Wikipedia, and YouTube are prominent public examples. In addition, social networking, and other collaborative tools are rapidly growing in use within company firewalls. Workers, especially those in research and development, use Web applications to collaborate on work projects across the globe.
Cloud computing meets the high-performance demands of the dynamic Web by using existing infrastructures to process massive amounts of information in split seconds.
To conduct online brainstorming sessions among their workers, for example, China Telecom and Sogeti, a European professional services firm, turned to internal cloud computing platforms. High performance cloud computing is able to collect input from 18,000 Sogeti employees, in real time, sort and analyze it for business use.
Energy Efficiency
As energy costs climb and concerns over carbon emissions increase, the need for energy efficient IT is gaining greater attention. Cloud computing is able to use IT resources efficiently, and reduces the amount of power needed to run data centers. According to Info-Tech Research Group, most computer servers run full time, but are used at only 10 to 20 percent of capacity. Cloud computing saves energy and operating costs by pooling IT resources. Its platforms are able to scale up or down as needed, putting computer power to use, rather than drawing energy while remaining idle.
Continued Innovation
Global competition means companies need to get new ideas to market faster, and they look to technology to help them speed up results. This need for continued innovation is a major driver of cloud computing, which offers robust computer power at lower cost.
At a Wuxi, China industrial park, tenants, mostly start-up software companies, are able to access an entire IT infrastructure by plugging in their computers. The industrial park worked with IBM to create a cloud computing center which it hosts for its tenants. IT is part of the industrial park's infrastructure, along with heat, lights and water. For software start-ups, this means lower costs in developing products. They avoid buying and operating their own servers, applications or tools and pay only for the IT services they actually use. Vietnam in 2008 established a cloud computing platform at its National University to build IT skills among its workforce more quickly.
Simplicity for users
Technology continues to grow more sophisticated, but users want IT to remain simple to use. Delivering software-as-a-service over the Internet is an example of the trend toward simplicity. It is also a precursor of cloud computing. By purchasing a service, rather than buying software outright, a company uses up-to-date software without the complexities and costs of managing or upgrading it.
Cloud computing brings similar simplicity to the entire range of IT. Some cloud computing platforms are hosted externally and purchased as a service. This is appealing for smaller firms that have limited technical staffs. However, many companies, especially larger firm, are likely to opt for internal platforms, especially in industries, such as finance, which require security and privacy.
Structure for vast amounts of information
The Web provides quick access to a huge quantity of information, but sorting through it is a challenge. Search technologies, such as Google, exist because of this need for order and structure as information expands faster than the human mind can assimilate.
Every day millions of Internet users contribute text, pictures, and audio to Web sites around the world. The Web's value as a tool for productivity could be jeopardized without the ability to find data that users need, quickly and accurately. Cloud computing brings order and structure by being able to integrate widely diverse kinds of information. It delivers more computing power for handling massive amounts of data, as well as a simpler infrastructure to manage complexity.
Over the next decade, cloud computing will continue to transform as it adapts and responds to these major business and market trends, which are likely to dominate the technology landscape long into the future.
-------------------------------
Reynaldo C. Lugtu, Jr. teaches management and marketing courses in the MBA Program of De La Salle University, Graduate School of Business. He may be e-mailed at rlugtu2002@yahoo.com or visit his blog at http://rlugtu.blogspot.com.
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