LightBound News

The IT world is changing, and the latest advancement at the top of the list is the Cloud. While there is still skepticism among industry veterans about the permanency of the Cloud for delivering IT applications and services, others (like Wired Cloud sponsored by IBM and LightBound) are here to tell you that the Cloud is not a fad, but a "decade-long trend that is here to stay, and one that will define the next generation of IT." 

The article titled, "Top 5 Things The Cloud Is Not," by Peder Ulander describes the shift to the Cloud as being "in play for the last decade," but the reason for such slow adoption rates are due to the mass amounts of misinformation being spread throughout the industry. In fact, this misinformation has been preventing organizations from being able to develop "successful Cloud strategy, or simply learn about technologies that have been specifically designed and purpose-built to meet this dramatic shift in technology." 

To fully understand what the Cloud is, organizations may get a better taste by focusing on what the Cloud is not. **The following bold numerals are Ulander's points in the "Top 5 things the Cloud is not." Below is an overview to the article's point-of-view and direct quotes are noted. The full article can be found here. 

1. Cloud is not a place. There is no tangible location for the Cloud; it can be anywhere. The best way for organizations to grasp this idea is to understand that the Cloud is a completely new way of "delivering, consuming, and adopting IT services in a far more agile, efficient, and cost-effective manner, which will spread throughout the ether and be a mix of public, private, and managed or hybrid Clouds." This is the first step that needs to be understood before companies can implement the Cloud and develop the best strategy for its particular business demands. 
2. Cloud is not server virtualization. Some organizations think that these two items go hand-in-hand. This idea is false; If a "business virtualizes their data, it will not create a private Cloud." Many companies like Google are implementing the Cloud without virtualization. "They have deployed a cloud architecture that is not using server virtualization, but rather a bare metal infrastructure. So while virtualization can be an important ingredient of Cloud, it is not always a requirement."
3. Cloud is not an island. Popular talk among Cloud news is the public versus private models. Most articles portray the scenario like it is required to either public or private when utilizing the Cloud. On the contrary, the ideal Cloud solution is one that implements a hybrid system, where a business has the ability to connect both the private and public Cloud methods to fit its business needs. 
4. Cloud is not top-down. The coolest part about the Cloud is the fact that not only can innovators jump into the system, but also traditional companies can quickly test the waters as well. The fact of the matter is, the Cloud is so flexible, affordable, and unique that users are already mixing in the infinite pool of new IT resources to better their business. "Those who embrace the move sooner rather than later will learn how to use the Cloud as a strategic weapon before their competitors do. So the cloud is not top-down, but rather a bottoms-up phenomenon." 
5. Cloud is not hype. Those companies who have yet to dabble in the Cloud are generally skeptical of the new method and believe that the Cloud is not yet ready for the marketplace. Although there is a lot buzz keeping the slowed progression of adoption, the reality is that the Cloud is ready now and many companies are already "reaping the benefits" of the Cloud that have helped transform the way they do business. 

What is your take on the permanence of the Cloud and how do we get others to understand the concept enough to try it for themselves?