Cloud Computing, Part 1: Clearing the Air

Defining Cloud Computing and What it Means for Service Providers

***This is part one of a four-part series on cloud computing for xchangemag.com.***

Lately the term “cloud computing” has been popping up like Texas thunderstorms in June — in other words, constantly. The movement, begun by Amazon (AMZN) and Google Inc. (GOOG) as a way to host computing power remotely on the Internet, has morphed into an unwieldy, buzzed-about sector that’s populated by players whose only common ground seems to be a lack of consensus as to what cloud computing actually is. To boot, software-as-a-service, Voice 2.0, the catch-all term “virtualization” and the big-splash entry of Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) into the cloud computing space have further stretched the conversation as to what cloud computing involves and the opportunity for traditional service providers in this space.

Grounding the carrier role within this landscape — or sky-scape, as the case might be —begins with asking a basic question: What is cloud computing, anyway? Despite disparate definitions, there are some aspects that everyone agrees on. For one, it bears similarities to the ASP/hosted/outsourced models of yore in that the computing resources and the applications are hosted remotely as a shared resource that can serve multiple businesses. But unlike previous hosted infrastructure plays like server partitioning, those end-user businesses have control over the resources they’ve contracted for as though those resources were their own hardware sitting on their own premises. Also, the cloud model usually allows a corporation to pay a monthly fee for access to that computing power, which it can scale up and down as necessary to support various projects. In general, it offers a business or other organization a cheaper way to access computing power than if that outfit set up its own data banks.

And that reduced capex and streamlined IT environment can save end users not only money, but also time, said Joe Hofstader, an architect at Microsoft who focuses on cloud computing and SaaS for the communications sector. The company this fall launched its Azure cloud computing strategy.

Azure is a platform that supports Windows-based infrastructure and .NET server technology in Microsoft data centers. Developers can interface with Azure via the familiar Microsoft APIs and tools, so enterprise IT departments can use that infrastructure to support applications, including the aggregation of third-party offerings, over the Internet via a wide range of Azure-compatible enterprise endpoints. The company also is adding hosted versions of the Microsoft software portfolio to the cloud.

So where do service providers like telcos and cablecos figure into this equation? Service providers can partner with Microsoft to provide enterprises with secure connectivity to Microsoft’s cloud or they can combine their own services with software applications. Hofstader noted that he sees this model, involving both Microsoft and telcos, as “very complementary” to the software giant’s strategy.

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