Cloud computing moves beyond hype stage

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Cloud computing is gaining momentum as a new technology and has grown beyond the hype stage. Large and mid-sized businesses have already deployed the system, and now smaller businesses are adopting it as well.

According to a panel on cloud computing held at the Nth Generation Technical Symposium recently, cloud computing is still in its early stages, but adoption of the technology is coming fast.

Among the nearly 200 IT managers from mid-sized and larger enterprises participating at the symposium, close to 100 believed cloud computing has moved beyond the early hype phase. Only 23 percent believed the same was the true for private clouds. Sixteen percent thought software-as-a-service had reached this next stage, followed by infrastructure-as-a-service, which was cited by 6 percent. Forty-two percent said they are currently without any services in the cloud.

Scott Crenshaw, vice president and general manager of Red Hat's cloud computing business unit, compared cloud computing with Linux in its early stages of disruption. "There was a lot of experimentation under the radar before Linux moved to the big screen. Customers have been experimenting with the cloud for two to three years," he stated.

Steve Herrod, CTO and, senior vice president of research and development at a major technology company, agrees "I tend to find that when companies say they are not in the cloud, that one or two people are already working around their IT department and moving in that direction," he said.