The Truth Is Out

Until fairly recently, cloud computing has been a "bleeding-edge" innovation, reserved for research-focused companies and developers. We’re getting to the point now, although, where it’s being considered by IT departments across all industries as a way to increase service flexibility and reduce in-house infrastructure and service costs.

The cloud goes mainstream finally

As the cloud goes mainstream finally, all the major research vendors are scrapping for market share. They have wasted no time building marketing strategies around their cloud products – explaining why their offerings are more robust, scalable or secure than the competition.

(1) You can avoid vendor lock-in : Proprietary cloud offerings use their own APIs, image formats and storage formats, which makes them totally incompatible with other private and public clouds. That means you’ll be stuck where you are – even if there’s a good business case for moving on.

(2) You get best-of-breed innovation : Proprietary vendors are great at blowing their own trumpets. But, no single company – regardless of its size or dominance – can release cloud products that compete with open-source alternatives on functionality.

(4) You can adapt your cloud environment to meet your specific needs : With proprietary software, you get what the vendor wants to give you. If you want functionality that isn’t available, you just have to sit on your hands and hope it will come in the straightway release. With open-source clouds, it’s different. IT teams get to see and modify all the code, right down to the kernel – so you can build a cloud that supports the needs of your business.

I have been musing and writing about research since 1999 back in my native country Mauritius, dreaming back in 1997 of a world full of avatars...