When a cloud is not a cloud.
Even if you’re not in the IT industry the term “cloud” is appearing everywhere attached to some form of technology service. At its simplest form the term “cloud computing” is used a lot however this doesn’t really mean much when you attempt to visualise it (does anyone else picture computers on an airship?).
Now the point is really reaching saturation point with every technology company offering some form of cloud-based product or service.
When was the term cloud first used in IT, and what does it actually mean?
Ask anyone in technology and they will give you a variety of different definitions of cloud. In reality we’ve actually been using the term for quite some time – but never for marketing purposes.
For those of us in the IT industry a depiction of a cloud is the accepted norm for “out there” when drawing a network diagram. It is usually used as a visual mechanism when either referring to the Internet, a private network between sites, or a provider’s hosting platform. As an example, see this diagram created in every IT architect’s favourite tool, Microsoft Visio, pictured at right.
Metamorphosis
The first generation of the term brought us big name cloud providers such as Salesforce.com, Google, Microsoft, Rackspace, Amazon and others.
Then we started to see many smaller hosting providers also re-brand themselves with the term cloud either thrown into their product names or at least their website and marketing material.
A few months ago we started to see “cloud aggregators” appear. These are services and providers that combine your cloud services under one bill or administrative interface. Another term for these types of organisations is “cloud distributors”.
The next industry to rise from this cloud gold rush is “cloud consultants” who act on your behalf to help you choose the right cloud provider and work with them. Think of them like mortgage brokers for cloud products and services.
Going too far
The problem with such a loose term such as cloud is that anyone in technology can use it.
I’ve seen small IT organisations with a rack of equipment in their storage room offer it to customers as a cloud service, and if you look at where that equipment sits in the diagram above – they’re technically correct in using that term (ie. it’s outside your network). If I offered you a mailbox and disk space on a server that sat in my garage I could call really get some marketing spin going and say it is a cloud service that competes against Google Apps and Microsoft Office 365.
The problem is that the service offered isn’t anywhere near as scalable, manageable, cost efficient, upgradeable, or reliable as cloud services offered by the big name brands.
Recently I was perusing a technical journal where I saw an advertisement for a network cabling manufacturer using the term cloud in their marketing spiel. Their pitch was that you need quality cabling to keep your cloud environment running. Really? That’s like saying I need oxygen to run a marathon. It’s technically true but you won’t see me purchasing cans of “Perriair”.
To me cloud is the new term for “VoIP”. In essence VoIP is a subset of technologies to carry voice over networks, however marketers picked it up and started using it everywhere. Now VoIP is seen as inferior because of so many negative experiences.
A lot of the marketers in technology really do have their head in the clouds now. In my opinion, cloud is just the consumer-friendly term for “hosting”.
Cloud is not a new paradigm shift – it’s just new branding.
Loryan Strant is a Microsoft Office 365 MVP (Most Valuable Professional). Follow him on Twitter @TheCloudMouth.
