Page 125 - How Cloud Computing Is Transforming Business and Why You Cant Afford to Be Left Behind

O VERCOMING RESISTANCE T O THE CL OUD

unfortunate name” and suggested “highly virtualized infra-
structure” instead. That phrase misses the mark when it comes
to the self-service, end user empowerment, and multitenant
nature of most cloud computing.
Leaving aside Palmisano’s proposed renaming, when you
are looking for opposition to the term cloud, you don’t need to

look far. It’s possible that Larry Ellison’s outspoken jibes have
resonated with those who find the term confusing, misap-
plied, or misleading. Soon Oracle will be directly involved in
cloud computing, as its second-tier executives well know, and
perhaps Ellison will then clarify his remarks for the benefit of
CEOs everywhere. In the meantime, opposition will continue
to come from those who can’t take the time to wrestle with the

implications of what it means.
Admittedly, “cloud” can be an awkward term to explain. It
has evolved as a descriptive term that captures a new comput-
ing distribution pattern and business model, at a time when
that pattern is still getting established. Most likely, “the cloud”
will rapidly evolve into more specific forms of computing that
reflect what particular clouds will do. These clouds will take
on more specific names, reflecting a concrete form of com-
puter service.

An example of a cloud with a more specific definition
might be an IBM cloud, which will almost certainly include a
combination of x86 instruction set servers, proprietary IBM
servers, and perhaps IBM mainframe clusters. This will be a
“heterogeneous cloud” that is capable of hosting a wide variety
of workloads, or possibly a “legacy system cloud” that is capa-
ble of running old Unix and mainframe workloads as well as

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