Cloud Computing - Computing with less Risk - The Berkeley View

Michael Armbrust et al., Technical Report
The authors posit that cloud computing has the potential to transform the IT industry by creating computing services with less risk of over- or under-provisioning based on fluctuating demand and by creating an elasticity of storage and processing resources.
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However, any time you decrease risk in one area – you simultaneously increase risk in another – so the questions is what risks do we increase with cloud computing?

Berkeley Report

Nick Carr Has Never Been Right About IT..!

LOL - Sorry CIO, but Nick Carr has never been right about IT and competitive advantage. Moreover, the advent of cloud computing proves just how wrong Nick's argument about IT is..!


"CIO — Nick Carr was right and I was wrong. Sort of, anyway."
I confess to having roughed up Nick Carr quite a bit (in print, of course) over the past couple of years. I thought he was plain wrong in his book Does IT Matter? His argument there could be summed up as the spread of IT throughout the economy makes it impossible for any company to achieve competitive advantage through IT; therefore, companies should settle for a commodity IT perspective, spending no more than the minimum necessary to perform basic functionality." http://tiny.cc/60wpw

Vote: The Biggest Elephant in the Cloud Computing Room..!

Ok – Now we have all had a good number of months to absorb the various IT Hype Cycles highlighting the importance of Cloud Computing. And now that we have had good time to accept the fact that cloud computing is here to stay and that the question for organizations is no longer WHY, but HOW should they adopt a cloud computing strategy / model, I propose a vote! The vote is on the biggest elephant in the cloud computing room? I am going to vote for the Configuration Management Database (CMDB) or Configuration Management System (CMS - in ITIL's latest standard).

I will give my justification in a later blog, but for now let’s have some other suggestions. The purpose of this election is to help us understand some of the challenges organizations are facing..!

So, what would you vote for as the biggest elephant in the Cloud Computing room?

Skills in the Epoch of Cloud Computing

Q: As relevant and useful as it is, the hype on Cloud Computing, thus far, detracts from the some of the major impacts that the cloud model will have on the way organisations manage ICT. The hype is commonly focussed on the benefits of cloud – as if that was not clear for all to see! Instead we need to start asking more questions about the types of changes that will occur in work practices, especially to those engaged with ICT management – at all levels. What skills will be outdated and what new skills will replace them in the epoch of cloud computing?

A: My suspicion here, to use an extreme analogy, is that IT departments will begin rejecting technical graduates in favour of law students, as the focus moves from supporting and developing vendor technologies, towards developing and supporting the service level agreements of cloud providers.

What do you think?