Briefings Direct

Find the podcast on iTunes/iPod and Podcast.com. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Learn more. Sponsor: The Open Group.

Welcome to a special discussion on predicting how cloud computing will actually unfold for enterprises and their core applications and services in the next few years. Part of The Open Group 2011 Conference in San Diego the week of Feb. 7, a live, on-stage panel examined the expectations of new types of cloud models -- and perhaps cloud specialization requirements -- emerging quite soon.

By now, we're all familiar with the taxonomy around public cloud, private cloud, software as a service (SaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and my favorite, infrastructure as a service (IaaS). But we thought we would do you all an additional service and examine, firstly, where these general types of cloud models are actually gaining use and allegiance, and look at vertical industries and types of companies that are leaping ahead with cloud.

Then, second, we're going to look at why one-size-fits-all cloud services may not fit so well in a highly fragmented, customized, heterogeneous, and specialized IT world -- which is, of course, the world most of us live in.

How much of cloud services that come with a true price benefit -- and that’s usually at scale and cheap -- will be able to replace what is actually on the ground in many complex and unique enterprise IT organizations?

What's more, we'll look at the need for cloud specialization, based on geographic and regional requirements, as well as based on the size of these user organizations -- which of course can vary from 5 to 50,000 seats. Can a few types of cloud work for all of them?

Here to help us better understand the quest for "fit for purpose" cloud balance and to predict, at least for some time, the considerable mismatch between enterprise cloud wants and cloud provider offerings, is our panel: Penelope Gordon, co-founder of 1Plug Corp., based in San Francisco; Mark Skilton, Director of Portfolio and Solutions in the Global Infrastructure Services with Capgemini in London; Ed Harrington, Principal Consultant in Virginia for the UK-based Architecting the Enterprise organization; Tom Plunkett, Senior Solution Consultant with Oracle in Huntsville, Alabama, and TJ Virdi, Computing Architect in the CAS IT System Architecture Group at Boeing based in Seattle. The discussion was moderated by BriefingsDirect's Dana Gardner, Principal Analyst at Interarbor Solutions.

Find the podcast on iTunes/iPod and Podcast.com. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Learn more. Sponsor: The Open Group.