Storage-as-a-Service: Cloud Storage Providers
Cloud Storage has been increasing in popularity recently due to many of the same reasons as Cloud Computing.
Cloud Storage delivers virtualized storage on demand, over a network based on a request for a given quality of service (QoS). There is no need to purchase storage or in some cases even provision it before storing data. You only pay for the amount of storage your data is actually consuming. Read more 
Cloud Market Sizing – Factoids for Business Case
“Predicting the future is pointless, but it is possible to identify trends that have significant effects.” Peter Drucker
The increasing adoption of cloud computing and penetration of mobile devices are the two inter-related trends transforming the IT industry today.
We’re in the midst of a “once-a-decade” technological transition where the Cloud has become a new platform for delivering resources such as computing and storage to tethered and untethered customers on demand.
So the question facing managers and strategists — What does cloud trend (IT-as-a-service) mean to our organization? What is the current penetration of cloud computing and how is it expected to change in the next one to three years?
Cloud Enabling IT-as-a-Service
Computing is going the way of a power utility. This evolution parallels other big shifts like manufacturers, business and households moving to the electric grid from dedicated powerplants (i.e., windmills and waterwheels).
Today, similar shifts are happening in computing as dedicated (expensive) data centers are giving way to a computing and storage grid model. The maturation of the Internet, Web and networks are the ultimate catalysts.
Rather than being a new technology in itself, the cloud is a new business model wrapped around new technologies such as server virtualization that take advantage of economies of scale and multi-tenancy to reduce the cost of using IT resources.
Cloud is simply the manifestation of a broader transformation trend: “IT-as-a-Service.” The services (applications, platforms and infrastructure) simply reside in the cloud and are consumed as a service. The “IT-as-a-Service” trend in its infancy and will take a decade to play out similar to e-commerce. Early adopter companies are making their move to the cloud today, and they’re doing it aggressively to get a performance advantage.
Cloud computing is more of a service and business model shift than a technology. It is my belief that the cloud is, at its very essence, a service delivery and consumption model shift. The value migration is clear and stark. We will see a steady erosion in value migrating from the previous “behind-the-firewall” business model to a new outside-the-firewall” business model. A cloud landscape view is shown below.
When Worlds Collide: Cloud Computing and Corporate IT
Cloud Landscape
The 2012 forecast for enterprise IT calls for partly cloudy computing, but what does the 3-to-5 year outlook foretell?
The bigger question is, what will enterprise computing look like in 2020?
The recent recession has prompted many executives to more closely examine the way they invest in, manage and innovate the business.
One particular area of focus is IT, where a new wave of growth and transformation is becoming prominent. There’s no doubt you’ve heard the buzz about cloud computing, a way of accessing and using business infrastructure and applications over the Internet.
Think Salesforce.com, Workday, Apple iTunes, Google’s Gmail, Facebook, Netflix, Amazon.com, online retailing or online banking in the consumer cloud market.
These days, senior executives, strategy leaders and even corporate boards find themselves pondering the following key questions: What does the trend mean for our company? How can it change the performance trajectory of our business? How should we restructure our IT function given the maturing of the cloud model in the next one, three or five years?
