Software InduStry 2.0
cloud lets them build an enterprise-class business To date the majority of cloud computing their jurisdiction to protect and advance national
process, at a price that they can afford, without services users are small to medium sized interests,” Hodgkinson says. “Countries that do
long delays and daunting capital investments.” businesses – but not exclusively. Google’s Suhr not have domestic cloud computing centres
Coffee says it’s not just international users that cites larger businesses such as the US biotech face the risk of substantial proportions of their
are taking advantage of the cloud, but software company Genentech and the UK’s Telegraph national IT workload, along with its tax revenue
developers who like the low cost and rapid Media Group as users of cloud services. and employment, moving offshore.”
development that cloud computing enables. “It really shows the maturity and flexibility As a result, he says policy makers may need
“The team at India’s Chennai-based of cloud computing,” Suhr says. “CIOs are talking to start considering creating or encouraging
CRMorbit are building applications that meet among themselves about this. They’re saying it’s their own cloud environments. The Japanese
their market’s distinctive needs, with the not a matter of ‘if’, it’s ‘when’.” government, for example, is planning the so-called
efficiencies and the entrepreneurial leverage that While cloud computing provides an Kasumigaseki Cloud to stimulate development
the cloud can uniquely provide,” Coffee says. opportunity to companies in emerging markets, of the Japanese IT industry. Another example
“CRMorbit built one of its applications – 24- the research director at Ovum, Dr Steve is the Wuxi Municipal Government in China,
Hour Healthcare Clinic – in only five weeks.” Hodgkinson, says there is also a threat to the which is partnering with IBM to establish a cloud
Similarly, Brazil’s TOTVS is the top ERP IT industries of countries that do not develop computing centre for local software companies.
provider in Brazil, has built a fleet management onshore computing resources, as global IT giants “The availability of cloud computing
application natively on its Force.com platform, will end up dwarfing all other IT players in any resources within a jurisdiction,” says Hodgkinson,
and is using the AppExchange for additional individual country. “may become an important stimulus for
distribution capacity in markets where it does “Governments will need to use their own the development of the local software and
not have local presence. weight to influence the way clouds evolve in technology industries.” n
COMPUTING WITHOUT BOrDErS?
Cloud computing promises technology without Data management specialist EMC has a
geographical barriers, but the majority of the 600-person cloud computing research and
data centres hosting cloud services remain in development centre in China, while IBM has
the US. A few exceptions exist, such as Telstra’s deployed 13 cloud computing centres around
T-Suite in Australia and Enomaly in Canada, or the world. Microsoft has development centres
the Chinese start-up Cloudnet. in Shanghai and Hyderabad, while NEC’s cloud
According to the research director at Ovum, computing research is undertaken in Melbourne.
Dr Steve Hodgkinson, the main reason is the The head of developer evangelism for Microsoft
availability of funding: “The build-out of cloud in Australia, Gianpaolo Carraro, points out that that is relatively unlikely to experience wars,
infrastructure needs to be funded either from cloud computing has another advantage in riots, or natural disasters. Likewise, the closer it
another revenues source, such as advertising some emerging markets for developers: “For is to industrial or transportation sites, the more
for Google and books for Amazon; the company markets with higher [software] piracy, which likely it is to be affected by a manmade disaster.
just needs to be a big, cash-rich IT player, such often but not always correlates with emerging Prentice says other considerations include
as IBM; or funding needs to be sourced from markets, it is much harder if not impossible to low power and real estate costs, easy and
venture capital, such as Cassatt or GoGrid. ” pirate a hosted service.” relatively cheap access to multiple network
These companies are, however, starting The technology evangelist for the US cloud service provider backbone networks, access to
to look beyond their shores when it comes to service provider GoGrid, Michael Sheehan, says skilled staff, and political stability.
deploying new data centres. that his company is definitely thinking hard The spread of the cloud across the globe will,
“IBM, for example, is building out a global about having multiple data centres around the however, give rise to one major concern: when
network of cloud computing centres, so the world in order to benefit from a worldwide you use cloud computing, do you ever really
individual countries where the centres are built surge in interest. know where your data is? Google for instance
will benefit, but ultimately the revenue will “Cloud computing will experience tremendous doesn’t reveal the location of its centres.
siphon back to the USA,” Hodgkinson says. growth over the coming years,” Sheehan predicts. Ovum’s Hodgkinson claims that many
Other companies are also looking to expand “With companies looking to outsource, reduce non-US companies are concerned about the
outside of the US. AT&T’s Synaptic hosting is capital expenditure and consume only what is jurisdictional issues related to hosting in the US,
expanding beyond its base in Annapolis into needed, I expect the adoption trend to accelerate particularly the Patriot Act and the concessions
Singapore, while Terremark’s Cloud services in over the coming year.” it makes to the FBI in relation to being able
Virginia and Miami will be joined by a centre However, it isn’t just cash and local to inspect US-hosted data. Hodgkinson says
in Amsterdam. Salesforce.com is also opening experience that will determine a cloud there are also concerns about potential loss of
a data centre in Singapore to service an Asia computing centre’s location. According to control over data, and the question of whether
Pacific customer base that has doubled in the Gartner research vice-president Brian Prentice, data that is stored in the cloud can ever truly be
past 12 months. a data centre needs to be in a low-risk location destroyed.
pathfInder buSIneSS l JUNE/JULY 2009 29
PBS12 pp26-29 Software.indd 29 8/6/09 12:51:24
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