TechLines: Cloud Control: photos

(Credit: Suzanne Tindal/ZDNet Australia)

The event was held at the Sydney Theatre Company in Walsh Bay.

(Credit: Suzanne Tindal/ZDNet Australia)

Cloud computing is fast becoming the new black, with consumers jumping head first into cloud services such as Gmail. However, many companies are cautious about adopting it, raising fears about data sovereignty, portability and security. The aim of TechLines is to delve into the pros and cons of this new public infrastructure revolution.

(Credit: Suzanne Tindal/ZDNet Australia)

The panellists were, from left to right, futurist Mark Pesce; Microsoft director, developer and platform evangelism Gianpaolo Carraro; ABC New Inventor host James O'Loghlin; Ovum analyst Kevin Noonan; and IBM director R&D Australia and chief technologist Glenn Wightwick.

(Credit: Suzanne Tindal/ZDNet Australia)

It was remarked upon early that the audience was well hooked up via mobile devices.

(Credit: Suzanne Tindal/ZDNet Australia)

Faced by a question about how companies prefer to be responsible for data security themselves rather than trust cloud providers with their data, Carraro likened the releasing of control to people in the past when they realised that banks were a safe place to harbour funds.

"People were keeping their money under mattresses," he said. "That has shifted."

He said that organisations would be better off in security terms if they did go with a cloud provider. Ovum's Noonan agreed. However, he had an option for those who weren't convinced.

"If security is your absolute concern, go to your existing service providers and ask them do they have a cloud offering," he said.

(Credit: Suzanne Tindal/ZDNet Australia)

O'Loghlin introduced a lawn mower analogy early on in the piece, which the other panellists picked up and ran with. Why buy a lawn mower when you use it so infrequently, he asked? Why can't someone just cut your grass for you?

Carraro reused O'Loghlin's analogy, saying he should engage the services of a landscaper. It's changing from the idea that "I need to do it", according to Carraro, and moving to "it needs to be done", so let's get a professional to do it.

"Clearly, you're implying I'm not a very competent lawnmower," O'Loghlin joked.

Later O'Loghlin asked IBM's Wightwick to explain the difference between infrastructure-as-a-service, platform-as-a-service and software-as-a-service. There was a pause. Then Wightwick said "I'm trying to figure out how to relate this to a lawnmower", before admitting defeat.

Further again, when talking about potential job losses in the IT department from cloud, O'Loghlin was told by panellists that the IT staff will be able to carry out other roles. He said then that those employees weren't mowing as many lawns, but were perhaps designing the shape of the lawn.

(Credit: Suzanne Tindal/ZDNet Australia)

Noonan explained how the viability of cloud was mixed.

"If we were starting a small business I think it would just be a no-brainer to start picking the best of breed cloud technology and making use of it," he said. "But if you've got an organisation that's got IT that has been running for 30 to 40 years with hundreds, probably millions of dollars invested into applications ... it's a technical challenge you sort of pick up and lob over into the cloud."

He said that organisations would look through their application portfolio and pick which ones made sense to move to the cloud.

"That application doesn't really differentiate my application from someone else's: it's amenable," he explained.

On vendor lock-in, Noonan said that the vendor choice issue had been something facing IT for a long time — in terms of when companies choose particular systems, they're also locking themselves into a vendor.

However, standards to facilitate data portability also featured heavily in the discussion.

(Credit: Suzanne Tindal/ZDNet Australia)

After the discussion, audience and panellists went upstairs to discuss issues further.

(Credit: Suzanne Tindal/ZDNet Australia)

Food and drink circulated while people thought hard about lawnmowers.

(Credit: Suzanne Tindal/ZDNet Australia)

Carraro enjoyed a cold beer.

(Credit: Suzanne Tindal/ZDNet Australia)

Angus Kidman, Josh Mehlman, Kate Carruthers and Pesce chat together.

(Credit: Suzanne Tindal/ZDNet Australia)

O'Loghlin seriously considered something said by the Microsoft contingent.

(Credit: ZDNet Australia)

ZDNet Australia's news editor, Suzanne Tindal, shared a less serious moment with Howorth Communication's Marie-Claire Suter, and Microsoft head of corporate communications Cathy Jamieson.

(Credit: Suzanne Tindal/ZDNet Australia)

Noonan slums it with ZDNet Australia's editorial director Brian Haverty and blogger Phil Dobbie.