Cloud: Evolution or Revolution?

Every once in a while you see this crop up in discussions about the cloud. It’s easy to see why. It feels like there is something ground breaking going on, but clearly the technology that came before set the stage. Grid computing, utility computing, SaaS, network 1.0, and ubiquitous virtualization have all prepared the way for the cloud to rise. So it’s clearly an evolution of what came before.

At the risk of being thrown into the hype bucket I’m going to take the stance that it’s also revolutionary. Whoa! Why?

The revolution comes from changes in the way we think, feel, and relate to the Internet and the infrastructure that powers it.

Ultimately it’s about empowering choice.

Choice
The cloud provides choice. How long you use resources, how much you pay, what resources you consume, where you consume them, and what you do with them. It’s the intersection of hyper-connectedness, computers a la carte, and “Have it your way.” (YouTube)

The difference between those who ‘get it’ and those who don’t is that some core tenets and assumptions start underlying all of their thinking about the cloud.

Core Cloud Tenets
I’ve been trying to pin down some of these ‘core tenets’ of cloud computing and I don’t think I’ve quite figured them all out yet, but they definitely revolve around choice.

The utility charge model isn’t new. Virtualization isn’t new. What’s new is these assumptions we’re making about how we relate to the Internet and infrastructure at large. I think it’s very similar to what’s been driving the other exciting technology areas right now: Web 2.0 (social networking in particular) and mobile computing.

Here’s a couple of the tenets I’ve figured out so far:

Self-service
No commitments

I’m certain there are others, but these are the two I’ve dredged up so far. Would love to hear your input in comments below.

Self-service
Programming interfaces, on-demand service, and related are all a reflection of our need and desire for get what we need and get it now. The cloud enables the self-service model for infrastructure. That’s powerful.

No commitments
This one is scary for some because they are used to succeeding via lock-in, but the reality is that this is just the result of the same driving desire behind self-service. “If you can’t help me or satisfy my needs I want to go elsewhere.” It manifests as the utility or subscription charge model, but it’s really about the desire to be unshackled and able to respond agilely to customer and market demands.

Final Thoughts
It’s an evolution, a revolution, and a new model for relating to the critical infrastructure that enables our society. Where we’re really going to see sparks fly is when ‘choice’ enters large enterprises as it inevitably will. These are places where ‘choice’ is generally frowned on, but these tenets and drivers won’t go away. They can’t. They are what makes it a ‘cloud’ and these assumptions underly every conversation about it, even though unspoken, for folks who ‘get it’.

This entry was written by randybias, posted on November 20, 2008 at 08:33, filed under Cloud Computing, Technology. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.

Andrew Younge

This a question that I see asked many times recently. I think your take on it being evolutionary is correct. I see too much hype around the topic of cloud computing. Its so much that nobody can even give a well-accepted definition of what Cloud computing actually is.

I think cloud computing is both evolutionary and revolutionary, however I see it in a slightly different way than you. First, many goals of cloud computing are in fact the same as Grid Computing. This is outlined in Ian Foster's paper, â€œCloud Computing and Grid Computing 360-Degree Comparedâ€ presented at GCE08 where its stated that Grids and Clouds are more or less the same thing from an abstract point of view. However I do see two things that Ian ignores: the use of virtualization and the target audience. The first one is obvious. Cloud computing is based on virtualized machines running on hardware without regard to physical locality. Everybody knows this, and it give Cloud computing its revolutionary flare. I believe the other (and possibly more) fundamental difference between Grids and Clouds is the target audience. Grids have typically been used in advanced scientific research projects and in academia, whereas Cloud computing has emerged through industry. This is an important difference as it defines future directions for each topic, as the future is always determined by the consumers (especially when we are talking about service oriented architectures). In this regard, one can conclude that Cloud computing is simply an evolution of Grid computing with a slightly different twist and a different market.

I think your analysis of self service is correct, however I do think that the concept of no commitments in Clouds is false. If you actually read Richard Stallman's complaints on Cloud computing (as the previous comment referenced), one major issue he identifies is how all current cloud deployments are proprietary systems which do in fact lock you into them once you start using it. This, in my mind, is a commitment which in reality can be far more binding for any given organization than a written contract. This is because switching technologies is always an error-prone and costly process that is avoided whenever possible. Locking yourself into Amazon's EC2 or GoGrid have this same effect without any binding contracts or big software/hardware purchases because the cost of switching technologies is far greater than the discount from one cloud versus another.

To summarize (and work with your final thoughts), I think Cloud computing is PART OF "an evolution, a revolution, and a new model for relating to the critical infrastructure that enables our society" to accomplish things that were previously impossible.

Thanks,

Andrew J. Younge
Rochester Institute of Technology

Robert J Berger

Hey, Richard Stallman told us that Cloud Computing il is "worse than stupidity" and a TRAP!

And Larry Ellison said its "fashion-driven" and "complete gibberish"!

So if both of those guys are against cloud computing, then there really must be something to it :-)

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