Saturday, October 10, 2009

Checking out the cloud – a reality check

The Web Archive, also known as “the way back when machine” is a great research tool.

Recently I want to check out so called “cloud provider” and see what they were offering “way back when” in 2001.

Well in 2001 this cloud provider was an ASP provider! No, they did not do Active Server Pages, although they did provide web enablement, they were in fact an Application Service Provider, quoting from the then home page.

“<company> offers comprehensive internet, application and infrastructure management services, in one solution, to keep your business not only in the game…”

If I follow the company from 2001 they moved from ASP provider to “on-demand” and “utility” provider to “on-demand” and “cloud” computing provider.

I commend the company for moving with the times and providing a new story for the same services that have changed some over the years, however they are still offering “old rope” for new.

The cloud is a great marketing story very much like “ASP” and Information Lifecycle Management “ILM”. Where are these terms today? ILM raced in and out like a bad curry. Driven by the storage providers on the back of the records management renaissance, post Sarbanes Oxley reports, whizzed up by the marketing department like a quick soufflé. But now cloud is in folks.

  • Cloud infrastructure
  • Cloud Application Services
  • Cloud storage
  • Cloud <enter your choice here>

So we are going to see cloud for awhile. Google Trends www.google.com/trends with a search term of “cloud” show the increase from end 2008 in searches and news stories. We are on the up of the hype cycle, get ready for the rollercoaster ride down the other side. Excitement will abound for some time to come. By the way this article is brought to you by the “blog cloud”, yeah right !

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