Having worked in the IT sector for more than two decades I am aware that the devil lies as much in the definition of terms as in the detail of adoption rates. In this respect Cloud Computing is of course no different from any other IT marketing storm that we have experienced. However, the definitional bomb for Cloud Computing is ticking away in an unexpected quarter.
The wrangling over definitions and Cloud to date has occurred in two main areas: the issue as to whether a “private” Cloud is really a Cloud if it doesn’t use shared infrastructure beyond the internal organisation; and then the old chestnut as to whether cloud must use a multi-tenanted architecture or not (For what it’s worth, my answer to both is yes). However, away from these disputes there is an ISV storm brewing regarding the use of the term hybrid Cloud.
The problem has occurred because two distinct types of ISVs have started using the term to describe very different types of solution.
The pure-play definition of hybrid cloud
The pure-play Cloud application providers use hybrid Cloud in what I believe to be the correct sense of the term to refer to a cloud infrastructure that is a composition of two or more Clouds (private, community, or public) that remain unique entities but are bound together by standardized or proprietary technology that enables data and application portability (e.g., Cloud bursting). This is the term typically used by pure-plays to discuss integrating with platforms such as Force.com, for example.
This is the definition used by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). It is also the definition used by the Cloud Security Alliance.
The mixed model definition of hybrid Cloud
Traditional ISVs with an existing installed base using client-server implementations of their applications, are using a different definition of hybrid Cloud – taking the term to either mean the integration of a cloud front-end application with a client-server back-end application, or to refer to the development of web-browser access for a traditional fat client-server application.
You say tom-ay-to, I say tom-ah-to, let’s call the whole thing off
On the face of it this seems such an esoteric discussion that it may not be worth having – at present Cloud Computing is a nascent deployment model in many organisations and many still struggle with how to define Cloud Computing itself, let alone fretting about a sub-set of Cloud Computing.
But actually this definitional confusion is creating a number of problems for industry bodies and service-provider partnering strategies. This is because such bodies and service providers are working in an ecosystem with both Cloud pure-play and traditional ISVs. And with such a large split in understanding and meaning of the use of the term hybrid Cloud in the ISV community it is difficult to develop credible go-to-market approaches at a time when credible go-to-market approaches are sorely needed.
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