Has the revolution left us all blinded by the light and groping in the dark? Private clouds on-premises (Dell), Azure-in-a-box for Enterprises, Oracle/Sun kept away by EU to move ahead and disruption and confusion among the traditional partner/reseller/distributor channel. Amazon, Opsource, Google, Microsoft are all competing to offer the cheapest delivery in the cloud. Is Cloud Computing just hype? Yes, to some extent and one could be tempted to quote Hans Christian Andersen´s story "The Emperor's New Clothes"

Every day we see new and "improved" cloud offerings, but who are we kidding? Isn't Cloud computing just a packaged platform with a variety of layers of technology, delivered off-premises unable to address all the objections of the customers?

Cloud Computing Providers - perceived or declared - are all forcing the IT users/decision makers to climb too many mountains at the same time. 1) Move your IT to a cloud delivery 2) forget about your present database structure 3) Pay using your credit card 4) We will hold your data, but can't always tell you where 5) etc., etc….

When businesses are looking to improve their competitiveness and become more agile they often turn to the IT provided for their business. In today's economic climate businesses are looking for scalability, predictability in cost, fast implementation and proactive maintenance. All issues addressed and to be delivered by Cloud Computing, but as easily and more convincing delivered with IT services delivered on-premises using SaaS as a business model.

Microsoft's ability to offer "Azure-in-a-container" to enterprises could prove the point. Enterprises want the benefits of the scalable and affordable platforms with predictable cost and plug-and-play maintenance without losing control of the data. GIVE IT TO THEM, but don't force them into the Cloud unless you can address all their objections.

IBM was first - delivering the "On-Demand" message, but hasn't been able to capitalize on the opportunity, Microsoft is now paving the way, will IBM catch up? Will Oracle be allowed to create a new Software-Platform as a Service? Will Google move into the channel and offer "private" Clouds? Will the politicians of EU change their focus and not spend all their efforts saving MySQL and instead help enterprises and businesses in EU by setting the standards and rules to regulate how and who are allowed to call themselves Cloud Computing/Hosting Providers in the future?

The politicians should focus on regulations and standards and not prohibit the inevitable change in the way IT services will be produced and delivered - leave that to the demand/supply game.

We need the Politicians to lead us into the future by understanding the evolution and to keep the focus on defining the rules and regulations of the game and not interfere unnecessarily in who is teaming up.

Our biggest challenge is securing the cloud to the benefit of us all and not prohibiting the consolidation game - Microsoft and other software vendors will at some point see a need for controlling the hardware to compete in the "container"/platform game - Will the Politicians stop Microsoft from buying….Dell?


Anders Trolle-Schultz is a partner at SaaS-it Consult Ltd.