Cloud computing – the next big thing

Subscription based delivery models such as Software as a Service (SaaS)/ Software + Service (S+S) model are no longer a hype, its reality and the sheer number of adoption of subscription based applications by organizations tells you that SaaS/S+S a viable option for most ISVs and end consumers. Market analysts and the IT community are always looking for the “next big thing” and this time around it looks like everyones got their eyes (and big bucks) on cloud computing.

So what is cloud computing? Practically any application/service that’s hosted outside the organizations firewall has been referred as “in the cloud”, so what the deal with cloud computing and what makes it different from hosted applications we have been building?
In many ways you can think of cloud computing as a form of utility based computing that’s available on demand, ie a subscription based service. The appeal of could computing is that you no longer have to plan way ahead for hardware capacity (and redundancy) – if you need more hardware capacity all you do is subscribe for additional resources. Instant infrastructure if you will. This is a boon for many startups, as they can start and stay lean on both infrastructure and headcount, it reduces the bar for entry. Typically services that are infrastructure intensive/ involve number crunching are good examples of services that could be offered in the cloud. Some of the well known examples of cloud computing can be seen from the services provided by Amazon such as their Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) and its Simple Storage Service (S3). Other major players such as Sun (with its grid computing service) and IBM are also entering the market. Many other heavyweights have committed towards the cloud computing initiative, everyone seems to want a piece of the action. Several enterprises are already subscribing to cloud services for image processing, address processing etc.

So whats happening on the Microsoft front you may ask? Microsofts Oslo initiative (see earlier post) along with the BizTalk Service and its virtualization and System Center management products will provide the back bone to building cloud computing infrastructure also Microsofts High Performance Computing (HPC) 2008 is in its early stages but looks promising, you can expect several companies to provide cloud services for doing grid computing by leveraging MS HPC, similar to the grid computing service provided by Sun.

Cloud computing may be known by different names already you can hear people interpreting it as “platform as a service” and “infrastructure as a service” and each vendor is carving out a keyword that they can associate with cloud computing and riding the hype wave. Regardless in the next few years cloud computing will change the way we build and consume software just as SaaS/S+S is changing the way we use applications. This should be an exciting space to watch.