I don't mean that sarcastically either. Finally a company that seems to be smart about the cloud. The cloud is not yet ready for prime time and if it does get read for prime time it will have a niche but not be the final solution.
I am waiting for data ownership to swing towards the people who actually generate the data.
Sensible tech support to keep services, storage, and applications up and running.
Long term data retention and long term data accessibility need to be addressed.
Sensible data maintenance like back up strategies and realistic exit strategies for when a vendor goes out of business.
These are things that the cloud needs to tackle before it will be ready for prime time. Tell me as the consumer, I am responsible for my own back ups, my own exit strategy, I have to live with crap support, and suck up losing IP rights and privacy to my data is not going to get me to jump on the cloud any time soon.
HP dismisses cloud 'hype'
Summary
Top HP software execs say that, while the computing models represented by 'the cloud' are important, they don't like the name or associated hype.
Topics
Top HP software executives said on Tuesday that they believe in the ideas behind cloud computing, but don't like the name of the approach or the "hype" surrounding it.
Talking at the HP Software Universe show and conference in Vienna, Tom Hogan, senior vice president for software at HP, said the company had taken time to weigh up the promise of cloud computing, which provides web-based access to remote enterprise applications and storage.
"Rather than jump in to the hype [around cloud computing] out of the gate — you can't pick up a newspaper or a technology magazine today without reading about the cloud — we have been very deliberate over the past nine months, assessing where we think the cloud can help us", Hogan said.
The result of that period of assessment, Hogan told ZDNet UK, was the conclusion that "just like a lot of things in technology, the cloud will not be a panacea".
Several major technology companies have announced cloud-computing moves recently. These include Microsoft, which launched Azure, a cloud extension to its Windows franchise, Salesforce.com, Amazon and Google.
Hogan said that there will be a place for the cloud. Customers will be able to have a channel strategy for services, somewhat like the channel strategy they have for sales and marketing, he said.
According to Hogan, that means there will be three operations approaches open to enterprises: traditional in-house; outsourced; and in the cloud. "You have a host of applications that you will want to run on-premise in the traditional manner; there will be services for outsourcing (for which we have EDS); and there will be an emerging new paradigm that will aim to capitalize on the cloud," he said.
Within that context, the cloud is important, and HP has the tools to exploit it, Hogan said. "We think that HP has more capability in fulfilling the promise for the enterprise cloud, which is a heritage strength for HP," he said.
HP is especially well-equipped to do this, as its EDS business group can provide the processes needed for the cloud model, Hogan said. The company acquired EDS for $13.9bn (£9.37bn) in May, adding EDS's computer-services expertise to its portfolio. Hogan's skepticism about the hype was echoed by other executives at the conference. "A lot of people are jumping on the bandwagon of cloud, but I have not heard two people say the same thing about it," said Andy Isherwood, HP's vice president for software services in Europe. "There are multiple definitions out there of 'the cloud'."
According to Isherwood, HP prefers to talk about the software-as-a-service (SaaS) model. Isherwood told ZDNet UK: "Customers say: 'We want solutions from you that we can buy and implement quickly. And we want to do that without investing a lot of our capital in people, equipment and software. We buy SaaS and, if it works: great. We will keep it.'"
HP has become the 10th largest company in the global SaaS market, according to Isherwood.
Talkback Most Recent of 4 Talkback(s)
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mr197211th Dec 2008 -
RE: HP dismisses cloud 'hype'
At the end of the day, no amount of IT processes will matter if you don't have something that someone wants to buy. To get this elusive widget, you need in-house engineering and good old fashioned hard work.
Short of this, you are just QVC, selling other people's junk.
tburzio11th Dec 2008 -
RE: HP dismisses cloud 'hype'
I just can't see the attraction of cloud computing at all. Passing our company's confidential data to a third party with no guarantee of privacy (including use or pass-on by the US government).
Even on a purely practical basis, an internet connection in the UK offers 1:10 upload:download speed ratio. It would take forever when you're processing gigabytes of data a day. Why would I want to change from a gigabyte internal network to a megabyte external one?
99% uptime means we wouldn't be able to work for three and a half days a year.
alec.wood@...15th Dec 2008 -
Marketing slag
Cloud is just a marketing and economic slang to show a not-clear-and-specific business model, today nobody have a clear image of the cloud.
IT talking cloud is or a housing or a hosting, or a server farm.
magallanes18th Dec 2008
Talkback - Tell Us What You Think
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