Gartner: customers still don't get cloud computing

Many corporate customers still do not grasp the key benefits of cloud computing, one top analyst says.

In a research note posted today, Gartner distinguished analyst John Pescatore said many corporate customers he's talked to recently who are evaluating cloud computing for the first time are not interested in "true" cloud benefits -- that is, the offloading of compute and storage to infrastructure as a service -- but rather they are looking at the technology as a means to secure the virtual data center.

"A lot of those client calls are around dealing with the issues of business unit desire to use the cloud or IT wanting to use cloud, Pescatore wrote in his blog. "But when you dig a bit deeper, the current business issues (not the hype) are really about (in order of currency and importance): 1. Maintaining security when the data center goes virtual, both VMWare and SAN issues.

2. Being told “We are going to consume ‘X as a Service’ – go make sure it is secure.”

3. A narrower version of (2): “We are looking at Microsoft BPOS or Google Apps Premier Edition for email/office productivity as a service – is anyone like us doing that? If so, what about security?”

4. User desire to use consumer-grade services, like free online backup or other advertising support online offerings.

Pescatore wrote that questions about “true” cloud usage are tutorial in nature and that many clients have "no near term" plans to embrace IaaS.

Details on his finding will be released in a report later this month.

Can't say I'm that surprised: a lot of IT pros who used mainframes or looked at mainframes didn't get the benefits of automated workload management either.