Hi all,

Based on the feedback I’ve received, it seems most people would like to know my opinion as to why businesses haven’t taken up cloud services anywhere nearly as quickly as most analysts have predicted. This is despite the fact that most cloud solutions offers big increases in ICT efficiency and flexibility whilst promising a very rapid ROI. In my opinion, there are numerous reasons for this; and the reasons are different depending both on the type of Cloud application or service and the type or size of business.

Over my next few entries, I’m going to examine some of these reasons and maybe help provide some road map assistance for organisations that are struggling to make this transition. I’m going to try and cover off the following broad topics (in no particular order) at the very least:

• Small Business
• Large Business
• Hosted VoIP/Unified Communications
• Security Concerns
• Design Constraints
• Transition issues (probably the most important topic)
• Migration issues
• Disaster Mitigation (another important topic)
• Choosing a cloud provider

If you have other topics you would like me to cover, please let me know and I’ll try my best.

For now, I’ll start with some basic definitions. One of the biggest general constraints of “Cloud Computing” is that few people in the industry can actually agree on what the term actually means. Rather than weigh in on the ongoing debate, I’ll offer the following general definition: Cloud Computing is a state where applications and data have become fully abstracted from the hardware upon which they reside. In other words, a true “cloud” offering must be completely portable with minimal effort, and freely (and securely) accessible from virtually any public network location.

A few other definitions I’ll add (as I will  be using these terms in my following posts):

• I-Cloud – a cloud environment that exists completed within an organisation’s premises or controlled infrastructure
• E-Cloud – a cloud environment that exists outside an organisation’s premises or controlled infrastructure but who’s components are dedicated solely to that organisation’s use (managed by a 3rd party)
• S-cloud – a cloud environment that exists outside an organisation’s premises or controlled infrastructure who’s components are shared with other organisations (managed by a 3rd party)
• P-cloud – a cloud environment that exists outside an organisation’s premises or controlled infrastructure who’s components are shared with other organisations (managed by multiple 3rd parties)

I hope you find this series interesting and look forward to your comments.

Michael