As we are heading toward the end of 2011, we have seen that cloud computing adoption is no longer a trend; it is now a business requirement. RightScale, one of the leaders in cloud computing management, has confirmed it from their first-hand experience.
RightScale has just published a press release offering some key insights on what’s going on in the world of cloud computing in 2011 and what lies ahead for both cloud businesses and companies adopting cloud computing in 2012.
Here is the recap of the key insights, showing you the trends, challenges and opportunities in cloud computing adoption…
1. The Cloud has become a requirement
Many businesses adopt the cloud due to these 2 facts: The high availability and the effectiveness of the cloud solutions offered. RightScale reports that its average monthly revenue/customer increase by 2.5 times in the last 2 years – and there is no sign of slowing down. It’s a clear choice: Jump into the cloud bandwagon or be left behind.
2. Virtualization is just halfway point in the journey to the cloud
Cloud businesses need to be careful these days. As more companies are becoming more cloud-savvy and cloud-literate, they now realize that what’s on offer is now just half the story. Virtualization, an existing technology that get slapped with the label “cloud” by some cloud businesses (fake clouds) in their effort to gain market share, is just the halfway point in the journey to the cloud.
Businesses are now recognizing that it doesn’t deliver the benefits of a true cloud solution; they no recognize that true cloud solutions are those that are API-driven, offering everything on-demand – compute, storage, and network resources – delivered via automated, uniform layers of services.
3. Cloud service models converge
RightScale saw the trends that lines between Platform as a Service (PaaS) layer and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) layer has begun to blur as customers mix PaaS and IaaS elements in their applications.
4. Cloud customers can now have access to one, big cloud with many resource pools
There are now plenty of options to choose among cloud infrastructure alternatives that include public, private and hybrid clouds. As a direct result, more companies are now using more than one cloud. With the right partner to manage those clouds (RightScale can manage that for its customers,) businesses can now view the world as a single large cloud consisting of multiple cloud resources offered by cloud service providers.
5. Lack of visibility in cloud deployment
Companies need more visibility in their cloud computing adoption – the resource pools used, which employees have access to them, etc. Today, they know very little about the “nitty gritty” in cloud deployments. The risks of such lack of visibility are cloud availability, compliance and security issues.
6. Lack of official cloud standards
Despite the skyrocketing cloud usages, there are no official standards in cloud computing, including how cloud resources should behave. There’s a prominent risk of cloud lock-in and also other counter-productive issues. With proper standardization, cloud solutions will be easier to deploy, manage and maintain.
7. Offering self-service to users
It’s official: As a cloud business, it’s impossible to limit the availability and effectiveness of the cloud in an effort to strictly control cloud usage. That being said, the only way to go for cloud service providers in 2012 is to offer self-service capabilities for users while gaining the visibility (as mentioned in number 5 above) over the cloud usage and ensuring the cloud operational best practices.
There you go – 7 cloud computing trends, challenges and opportunities to watch for 2012. Cloud businesses – get ready to ride on the trends and offer real solutions for business. Businesses considering to adopt the cloud – get ready to jump into the cloud bandwagon as the cloud clearly offers plenty of benefits – and do so in the right way.
