"I've Looked At Clouds From Both Sides Now" (A Non-Technical Definition of Cloud Computing)

I got a reader comment so perfect that it calls out to be shared:

I'm not the most technical tool in the shed, but I read a lot, and I have been reading a lot about cloud computing – and the lyrics of a song keep playing in my head:

"I've looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down, and still somehow
It's cloud illusions I recall
I really don't know clouds at all"

Cloud Computing – how does it affect me, the person on the receiving end (security issues, reliability)? The definition of Cloud – Webster's dictionary:

·         Something that darkens or fills with gloom.

·         A dark region or blemish – something that obscures.

Again, average person with concerns.

Posted by: Evelyn Lindquist | October 27, 2009 at 10:41 AM

I’ve noticed that technical people sometimes love definitions that are so intricately detailed that non-technical people – including most business people – can’t understand them. I think Evelyn’s comment is a sign that cloud computing is suffering from this disease.

There are good reasons for people providing cloud services to dig into the technical details of what they are doing and how they are doing it, but I think that we need much simpler definitions for people using cloud services.

I just can't let Evelyn's definitions stand (gloom, dark region, blemish), so here is my attempt at a simple, non-technical definition of cloud computing:

If I am a business person and I have a business problem that can be solved with IT, there are two ways to go about it. The traditional way is to chose an application, find some hardware to run it on, find some storage for it, find space and power in my data center, find people to operate it, and so on. The cloud computing way is to find a service on the internet instead of an application I run myself, and to let someone else handle all of those other steps. I don’t own a data center, buy any equipment, or operate anything. All my capital expenses are converted to a service fee, or – more common in clouds for consumers – the service is free because I have to look at advertisements.

I’m not saying that technical people should ignore the important differences between various cloud approaches (Software-as-a-Service, Infrastructure-as-a-Service, Platform-as-a-Service, Storage-as-a-Service, Internal/External/Private/Public). But I do believe that we’ve got to figure out how to hide as many of these intricacies as possible from the non-technical people who just don’t care.

Comments

[Tony Wilburn]

The cloud computing way is to find a service on the internet instead of an application I run myself, and to let someone else handle all of those other steps. I don’t own a data center, buy any equipment, or operate anything. All my capital expenses are converted to a service fee.

This can be and is being confused with hosting. Hosting is not cloud computing, even though many vendors are trying to pass off their old hosting offerings as Cloud. There has to be differentiators that people can understand.

[Just A Storage Guy]

The most interesting thing I think about the whole 'cloud' phenomenon is that everyone seems to tell you what it isn't instead of what it is. And *surprise* most vendors are telling you that what their competitor is doing is not really cloud..

It is a fancy word for utility computing, period. Hosting (web,email, etc) is a cloud service- on demand, all opex- you can rent in very small increments (gb, mb/mo, etc). Remote backup solutions like Mozy are cloud services; Amazon S3 is a cloud service.

Explain how that's not cloud.

[W. Curtis Preston]

I agree with "Just a Storage Guy." Everybody's about saying what cloud is not. But I kind of have to agree with Tony as well.

If I'm still managing an operating system and the application, that's not the cloud. Mozy/Carbonite/Crashplan are cloud. Salesforce.com is cloud. Quickbooks/Turbotax online are cloud. But I agree that a hosted computer is not cloud.

[Joerg Hallbauer]

What I find interesting is that those of us in the business of computing even think that actual business people care. Look, from the businesses perspective, they have a problem and they want a solution delivered to them that solves their problem, doesn't create more problems, and is as cheap as possible. How that's done is something for us "nerds" to worry about. As long as the solution solves the problem and meets the SLAs, most business people I know could care less how it's delivered.

[Jitendranath.P]

"names" create always wars..cloud computing..utility computing..SAAS..WAAS..DAAS ..the underlying concept or technology is same for all..its just u need to plug in if u want some thing..but the whole matter lies..how to build the plug ins safely ..i mean how to create the interfaces safely and securely.. finally..cloud computing requires a change in mind set on security.

[Bruce Hamilton]

I'm a professional sys admin. I think the key question to ask to determine whether something is a "cloud" service is, what type of skilled professionals do I need to hire? If I simply buy hosting, I might not need a sys admin, but pretty surely I need a DBA and an HTML/ Javascript/ Java/ PHP hacker. So I wouldn't call that "cloud".