Page 36 - How Cloud Computing Is Transforming Business and Why You Cant Afford to Be Left Behind

MANA GEMENT STRATEGIES F O R THE CL OUD R EV OL UTION

the pace of its Ice Age predecessors; it’s moving on Internet
time, which compresses more motion into a day and a week
than was previously conceivable over a much longer period.
Soon this massive entity will be moving down the valley at a dis-
tinctly nonglacial pace; its progress will appear irresistible.
Each of the cloud’s building blocks is a small stream in it-

self, but the force of their convergence is shaping up into
something like that glacier. If you’re a business computer user,
reliant on an on-premises data center, there’s no reason that
you can’t tap into the power of the cloud as well. If you’re a
small company that has only PCs and a small server or two,
then the cloud can provide you with the power you need so
that you don’t have to build out a data center. Either way, it’s

wise to stay informed on developments in the cloud; at least
don’t turn a blind eye and get caught in its path.
But let’s offer a more direct answer to Ellison’s objections.
For starters, the cloud is a continuation of the end user revo-
lution that began with the MS-DOS PC in 1983–1984, and
later with Windows and the Apple Macintosh. In focusing on
the large data centers, most proponents of the cloud seem to
think the amazing thing is the new power of the data center.

Soul of a New Machine:
Peer-to-Peer Computing

Think back to the PC Revolution, which unleashed a flood
of computing horsepower to the desktop. PCs were soon
linked to more powerful computers in individual businesses’

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