Cloud Computing, Part 1: Clearing the Air

Defining Cloud Computing and What it Means for Service Providers

Prasad Ravi, president and CEO of NOC services provider INOC, isn’t sold. “It’s always good when Microsoft enters the market and does things badly,” he said, jokingly. Microsoft raises awareness and spends millions on marketing, which helps everybody else, he said. “Now everybody will be looking for a cloud computing solution and picking providers they are comfortable with.”

In addition to Microsoft, Google and Amazon also are building “enormous global footprints” of data centers, Cearley said. So a level of partnership between telcos and the Googles, Microsofts and Amazons will be necessary because the telecom companies “are going to be the ones providing the pipes,” he said, though if Google makes good on rumblings that it wants to buy networks, the picture would change drastically.

The notion of partnering makes sense to the service providers and analysts, although it appears there’s some push-back from some Internet companies.

“The Tier 1 attitude toward the Googles and Yahoo!s is a lot more positive than the Google/Yahoo! attitude toward the Tier 1s,” said Tom Nolle, founder and president of high-tech consultancy CIMI Corp.. “I’ve never really heard a Tier 1 senior executive essentially position Google or Yahoo! or Amazon as competitors.” That comes down to the “Silicon Valley distrust” of incumbents, he said, and it’s a block Web companies need to surmount.

Top Challenges of Implementing Cloud Computing

Boundaries: Certain countries — Germany being one of them — require users’ information to remain in those boundaries. That makes it difficult for cloud computing providers to define where processes and data are stored.

Integration: “Integration issues don’t go away in a cloud; they actually get more complex with multiple services across multiple clouds,” said David Cearley, vice president and analyst at research firm Gartner Inc. Subcontracting out the oversight of equipment will heighten this dilemma.

Accessibility: What happens if an undersea cable breaks, as happened in 2007, and someone in Australia tries to access a cloud originating in the United States?

Proprietary standards and systems: The model works best when customers can bring together disparate applications and services from different providers to create a custom offering for their specific business needs. “If a telecom company says it’s going to control it all and create a walled garden of services, they will fail,” Cearley said. “If they embrace the Internet and err on the side of interoperability, then they’ve got a shot at it.”

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