Why definitions of cloud are creating 'false' debates

The answer, I believe, stems from a growing division among research and business decision makers about the very nature of cloud computing. I hesitate to go into cloud definitions, nevertheless I believe that people are arriving at one of two conclusions about cloud, namely that cloud is either a business model or an operations model.

Business model

Cloud as a business model. The concept that cloud is a way of selling IT capability as services is probably as old as the introduction of Amazon's pioneering S3 and EC2 services. Many in the industry suddenly saw the utility of these services, and quickly went on to declare that cloud is something you buy over the Internet on a pay-per-use basis.

The idea that cloud is about acquiring IT resources over the Internet is as well the prevalent view of the consumer market. Storing your photographs "in the cloud" means acquiring a photo service from a vendor over the Internet.

Operations model

Cloud as an operations model. The other way to look at cloud computing is as a way to operate IT capabilities. I wrote about this in depth some time back, however the core idea is that cloud is not a new computing innovation, yet it is simply a new way of operating those technologies as on-demand, self-service elastic services.

You can right away see the disparity between the two models. If you are looking at cloud as a business model, there is no way that an enterprise can meet the bill unless they use an internal cross-charging model, and even at the time the cloud "business" will struggle to reach commercial economies of scale.

The business model experience of consumers

Given that business decision makers are probably most aware of the business model experience of consumers, and many IT operators are most comfortable with the operations model view, you can see why even internal factions have trouble seeing eye to eye on what cloud adoption means.

Right or wrong, the enterprise is moving forward with projects that target on-demand, self-service elastic infrastructure with some form of cost "show-back" to regulate use; services that fulfill a cloud operations model. They are as well consuming plenty of cloud-computing services online in a cloud business model.

James Urquhart is a field technologist with nearly 20 years of experience in distributed-systems development and deployment, focusing on service-oriented architectures, cloud computing, and virtualization. James is a market strategist for cloud computing at Cisco Systems and an adviser to EnStratus, even though the opinions expressed here are strictly his own. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET.

The Wisdom of Clouds

The Wisdom of Clouds, a CNET Tech blog by James Urquhart, covers cloud computing, virtualization, SaaS, data centers, and much more.

The makers of several iOS apps have been sent cease and desist orders for using an in-app purchase feature built into Apple's iOS software. The letters come from parties claiming to hold a patent on the functionality.

In part three of a behind-the-scenes look at the development of Microsoft's new phone software, Ina Fried takes a look at Redmond's massive testing operation.

commentary Efficiency and new towers alone can't satisfy growing demands placed on mobile networks. Inventor Richard Bennett says spectrum must be freed up from legacy uses just as broadcast TV and obsolete government systems, and before long.