By Phil Wainewright on March 19, 2010
From the customer’s perspective, it’s all the same. If it’s provided over the Internet on a pay-for-usage basis, it’s a cloud service. Within the industry, we argue about definitions more than is good for us. Customers look in from the outside and see a much simpler array of choices. Why is this important? It matters […]
Posted in Featured Posts, Technology / Software | Tagged Business applications, ByD, Cloud Computing, ecosystems, erp, europe, Marketplaces, Platform as a service, SaaS, sap, SAP Business ByDesign, Utility computing
By Phil Wainewright on March 18, 2010
To dispel some of the confusion about security and to help people evaluating whether to go multi-tenant, here is a quick overview of the main risks.
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Posted in Featured Posts, Technology / Software | Tagged Architecture, Cloud Computing, gartner, multitenancy, security, software as a service, Utility computing, Virtual Machine
By Phil Wainewright on March 2, 2010
Having read (hat-tip Dennis Howlett) Randy Bias’ article at Kendallsquare on Debunking the “No Such Thing as a Private Cloud” Myth I have to say — rather like the apocryphal Irish direction-giver — if I’d wanted to make a case for private cloud, I wouldn’t have started from there. Randy and I joined a civilized […]
Posted in Trends & Concepts | Tagged Amazon Web Services, Cloud Computing, IT Outsourcing, On Demand, Platform as a service, Private Clouds, San Francisco, Utility computing
By Phil Wainewright on January 14, 2010
Private clouds will be discredited by year end, I predicted yesterday. I was promptly challenged to put my money where my mouth was. Here’s my considered response.


Posted in Featured Posts, Trends & Concepts | Tagged Amazon Web Services, Amazon.com, Cloud Computing, Infrastructure as a service, Platform as a service, Private Clouds, Utility computing, Web service
By Phil Wainewright on December 21, 2009
If I read one more article about what MIT Technology Review in its January lead story is calling “the security problem inherent in the size and structure of clouds,” then I swear I am going to burst a blood vessel. This article is a classic of the genre, beginning with an absurd screed about “computer […]
Posted in Trends & Concepts | Tagged Amazon, Cloud Computing, cloud security, data theft, security, Utility computing, Virtual Machine
By Phil Wainewright on December 9, 2009
I settled in for one of Marc Benioff’s legendary two-hour-long CloudForce keynotes in London yesterday morning (an abridged, snappier version of the nigh-on-three hour marathon delegates sat through at last month’s DreamForce, Benioff had assured me beforehand). As I listened, I thought about the role of multi-tenancy in cloud computing. The keynote hall was full […]
Posted in Featured Posts, Trends & Concepts | Tagged Architecture, Marc Benioff, multi-tenancy, On Demand, Platform as a service, salesforce.com, software as a service, Utility computing
By Phil Wainewright on December 7, 2009
One of the reasons it’s so difficult to satisfactorily define cloud computing is that people have many different needs and expectations from a cloud platform. To start a conversation about cloud — especially one that seeks to evaluate the relative merits of competing cloud platforms — without first identifying what needs are being met is […]
Posted in Trends & Concepts | Tagged Azure, Cloud Computing, microsoft, Platform as a service, software as a service, Utility computing, Windows Azure
By Phil Wainewright on November 15, 2009
The Economist is debating the proposition, ‘This house believes that the cloud can’t be entirely trusted.’ A leading question, if ever I heard one, but clearly the outcome should be a resounding ‘No’ vote.


Posted in Trends & Concepts | Tagged Cloud Computing, Economist, On Demand, The Economist, Trustworthiness, Utility computing