Cloud may be arriving faster than you think

Unless you’ve been living in the woods for the past year, you’ve been hearing more and more about the arrival of Cloud computing as the next big wave to hit the software marketplace. We’ve barely recovered from social media, mobile and big data as the reason to panic and here we are, trying to wade through the deluge of Cloud information coming from every possible source.

It would be easy and unwise to dismiss Cloud as hype. Despite the questions around performance, security and integration, the cost and the sheer ‘future-ness’ of Cloud has every organization taking a serious look.

Cloud service segmentation

The proof of Cloud’s future is in the investment Amazon Web Services is making in what they call the High-Memory Cluster Instance, a Cloud version of cache memory that makes very high-end analytics possible. Seeing a division of labor forming in the Cloud is excellent proof that the concept is maturing and segmenting to solve more than just elastic storage problems.

This is a key development that will allow Big Data to move to the Cloud in a meaningful way. The biggest question will be how to connect on-premise capabilities that will continue to have high value to Cloud capabilities that offer flexibility and new ways to cut operational cost.

Cloud Connect Santa Clara

I’ll be hosting the Big Data track at the Cloud Connect event in Santa Clara, California from April 2-5, 2013. If you live and work in Silicon Valley, this conference is a great opportunity to see through the hype and talk with the business leaders that are making the future. They include people like Alistair Croll of CloudOps, Jeremy Edberg of Netflix and Matt Quinn of TIBCO.

In the Big Data track, we’ll be looking beyond the buzz words to move from “What is it?” to a more complex, “How do we connect, store and process vast amounts of data using the most cost effective and secure ways as close to real-time as possible?” With so many choices of infrastructure and connectivity, finding the right combinations of technology and architecture is key to making it all hang together. I’m proud to be leading a talented group of speakers who will each tackle these issues from their own perspectives.