Work Assignments
Clearing up the Cloud picture
There is so much confusion (and fear) about what the term Cloud Computing means and what it really is. Now that everybody kind of “gets” SOA, the new buzzword that people can’t grasp is Cloud Computing. Everyday I see the same questions being asked in LinkedIn like What is the difference between Cloud Computing and SaaS? A simple question like this will get 100 different answers. So this is my attempt to clear the fog on Cloud Computing in a simple non-technical way (sorry for boring those that already know this stuff).
Here is a picture that shows a high level view of different types of cloud computing.
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| From Cloud Computing |
This picture is very basic but shows different types of companies leveraging the cloud model. You can also see that some types of computing are a subset of the cloud. Let’s talk about the different types and what they represent (forgive me as I reuse some slides from a previous presentation).
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| From Cloud Computing |
First you have the Internet which we are all familiar with. When the Internet first became the buzz, a lot of the same confusion and fears that surround cloud computing today were being discussed back then. How is it secure? Who owns the infrastructure? How do I control it? Early adapters saw the opportunity to reduce costs by moving brick and mortar operations to the Internet and increase revenue by providing services and goods 24×7x365. This following picture shows some major web sites that leveraged the Internet (or should I say Cloud 1.0 to be hip).
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| From Cloud Computing |
Then came Software as a Service which was pioneered by companies like Google and SalesForce.com. With SaaS, instead of buying shrink wrapped software that you must install on your infrastructure, patch, administer, and do all of those other non-value added tasks, you simply “lease” the rights to use the services that are provided. In the case of Google and services like GMail, you get it for free.
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| From Cloud Computing |
Companies like Google, SalesForce.com, and Amazon have built out huge datacenters in multiple locations with an enormous amount of capacity. They cannot afford to have a huge spike of traffic take their sites down and risk losing millions of dollars a day. At some point, these companies realized that they could offer their excess capacity for a fee to other companies to use. These companies would be able to take advantage of world class production environments that are proven to withstand millions of concurrent users. This is what is known as Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). The difference is the platform.
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| From Cloud Computing |
PaaS providers like Google’s App Engine and Force.com allow you to build your own applications on top of virtual server instances but restrict you to using their development languages. For Google it is Python, for Microsoft’s Azure it is .Net, for Force.com it is Appexchange. One could argue whether Facebook should be classified as PaaS. I put it there because they now provide a full development platform for running applications on Facebook. Checkout this Facebook App by Starbuck’s.
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) removes this limitation and gives you the ability to create virtual servers and develop in whatever you choose. The most popular IaaS vendor is Amazon who is in my opinion the leader in innovation and maturity in the cloud computing space.
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| From Cloud Computing |
So when people ask me what cloud computing is, I include all of these different models into my definition. “In the Cloud” to me means leveraging infrastructure off-premise. With SaaS solutions, the underlying infrastructure is hidden from you. With PaaS, you manage the amount of virtual server instances you use but you must use the technologies required by the provider. With IaaS, you manage the resources you use and are free to leverage whatever technologies you choose to deploy on.
Here are a few other useful resources that show a fairly complete list of vendors and the niche they fill.
Peter Laird - Visual map of cloud computing
Markus Klem - Cloud Classification diagrams
John Willis – Tools to use in the Cloud
John lists a number of vendors who provide a wide variety of tools to manage, configure, monitor, and scale including open source alternatives.
Check these resources out. I hope this gives you all a clear picture of what Cloud Computing is. The benefits and the risks are blog topics within themselves. I’ll save that for another day!
My work at the BPMInstitute.org
I do a lot of research and writing for various organizations. I have written a number of articles on CIO.com’s SOA Drilldown section. Today, my first article was published on BPMInstitute.org. I have a quarterly commitment to write articles on BPM and SOA (SOAInstitute.org). This article was a case study on how CERN, an international scientific research company and pioneer of the world wide web, leveraged BPMS tools to improve efficiencies and control costs. You can read the article here.
If you would like for me to research any technology or case study for your magazine, web site, or company, feel free to contact me for more information. I also work with clients to help lay out IT strategies whether it is implementing SOA, building a Center of Excellence, implementing Portfolio Management, or planning and organizing a business transformation initiative.
Managing Change in a Business Transformation Setting
I was invited to speak at a forum for IT executives in Detroit this week sponsored by Information Week. The purpose of the forum as described in the agenda goes like this…
This executive breakfast, specifically designed for senior business-technology executives, will explore why the pressure is on IT to help the business transform, and how it can meet those expectations. More than ever before, companies are demanding their CIOs to be strategic thinkers in helping them innovate and operate at peak performance – especially as businesses are under pressure from the poor state of the economy and the ever-faster pace of change in a global market. In this environment, you can’t miss this opportunity to gain insight into the tactics and strategy that will help you be on your best game.
I was specifically asked to talk about why transformational IT initiatives like BPM & SOA fail and what advice I would offer to prevent failures from happening. I put together the following presentation which is a combination of some of my previous presentations, Preparing for SOA and SOA & Change.
I wrote a very popular article on CIO.com a while back about the Top 10 reasons why SOA fails. I speak to each of these points in the presentation and present solutions for each. I also discuss using John Kotter’s 8-step process for managing change which I highlight in the presentation. Here are my keys for preventing failures.
- Plan for and manage organizational change
- Key drivers should be business focused not IT focused
- Evaluate internal skills and fill gaps. Do not try it without help!
- Don’t let the vendors drive your architecture. Do your homework.
- Grow your governance model over time
Speaking of governance, here is an analogy I like to use…
Implementing SOA without a solid governance model is the equivalent to having an airport without a control tower. Sure, there are some very good planes and talented pilots, but without the proper planning and timely information the end results would be disastrous. So make sure you build a control tower and hire some air traffic controllers!
If you would like me to create and present a custom presentation like this one, feel free to contact me
Upcoming assignments
Here is a short list of items that I will be publishing over the next few weeks. Be sure to stop by to check them out.
1) SOA Case Study on Service-now.com – This should appear on CIO.com in the next week or two
2) BPM Case Study – Still selecting candidates. This is for my quarterly commitment to SOAInstitute.org
3) EDM Summit Presentation – Presenting on Business Intelligence as a Service
4) Cloud Computing blog – Working w/Cloud Computing startup (name to be announced soon)
5) Zapthink Community blog – Come join the LZA certified architects and discuss SOA
