Why Cloud? Why HP?
It is my privilege to write the opening post of the HP "Scaling the Cloud" Blog. We intend for this blog to be all about the future of this industry, and what HP is doing in this space. Many of us here at HP enjoy talking and writing about it, as it is a mix of true customer and technology understanding, gut feeling/intuition, and sometimes just plain speculating. The future of computing, and the convergence of computing and mobile are being witnessed today by all of us as we watch elections, social movements, and even revolutions driven from cloud-based applications and technologies such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, etc. A phenomenon of this magnitude happens once every twenty years to an industry and a society. We are lucky to be witnessing it and to be a part of it today. We invite you to participate in this dialogue, as we enter this exciting phase of the transformation of our industry, society, and shape the future of computing together.
Beyond Technology—the Cultural Shift to Cloud Computing
The trend predicted so accurately in 2008 by Nicolas Carr in The Big Switch, where all IT will be hosted, is unfolding before our eyes. It may not happen in a black/white fashion—all or nothing—however, the trend to outsource IT outside of the corporate data center is happening with lightning speed and will continue to accelerate.
When we talk about cloud computing, it is important for all of us to realize that it transcends being a technology trend—it has shifted, and is shifting our cultures in ways we can’t even imagine yet. At no other time in history have consumers had unprecedented reach and power to compare prices, get recommendations and share good and bad experiences with millions in a blink of an eye. Traditional business models have been disrupted as the smallest businesses can now compete with the largest of enterprises. The cloud is core to these fundamental shifts and so much more.
Is it serendipity that is causing this cultural shift to cloud computing, or is there someone behind it? Who is really leading the charge with how consumers and businesses interact with technology? There is no doubt in my mind that it’s the software developers, with their creativity and constant quest for finding a “better way”.
Today, most new applications, whether Web 2.0 or Enterprise are being developed either on a cloud infrastructure or after a very careful evaluation of whether cloud is a viable candidate. I am in no way suggesting that the cloud is a panacea—far from it. I truly believe the future of IT is a “Hybrid” future, as not all applications today are suited to run on the cloud. However, it is clear that the new web-centric apps serve basically the same “function” as legacy apps, but are driven from a cloud infrastructure—such as the case with CRM and Salesforce.com, or email and collaboration tools. It has become apparent that software developers no longer only look at buying hardware, packaged software, and data center space to host the applications they are developing, and then build up a staff to manage it—that is so 1990s.
The Perfect Balance: “Good, Fast and Inexpensive”
Like every IT or development project, you want your infrastructure to be good, fast AND inexpensive. But historically, it was difficult to find a balance between these three attributes. The traditional paradigm dictates that you only get two out of the three—but in a lot of circumstances cloud computing breaks this rule and provides us a true balance of “good enough”. This is what is causing the rapid industry shift to cloud computing.
After spending the last few years working with thousands of developers, it was apparent to me that they were the first ones to “get it” and are driving this movement. Here are my quick observations:
1. “You Do it”: Developers are not “operators” by their nature. They are very technical of course, but also have a creative side. They do not want to worry about operating what is behind the “curtain”. They would much rather let someone else do the system administration work and worry about the operations. The cloud allows them to quickly develop their app, via a software interface, thus giving the instant gratification of using their best talent to develop, but at the same time not have to worry much about the downstream impact of managing infrastructure.
2. “I want to try it”: Developers are creative beings. Creativity is closely related to playing around and tinkering, also known by the term “bricolage”. Their experiments can’t be expensive, and if it is successful the price/cost scales with the success. Cloud infrastructure offers a low barrier to entry from a cost and a time standpoint. It takes minutes to open an account, and pennies/hour or pennies/GB to get started. This is an advantage to developers who are eager to put their creativity to the test quickly. What used to take 6 months to a year, now takes a few minutes and few dollars to prove out with no commitment or contract.
3. “Don’t waste my time…Please!”: It is fair to say that developers are super busy and don’t want to waste their time engaging with sales people and processes that provide little value to them. The prevailing cloud models give them exactly that. They open an account over the web, use a credit card and read about how to solve problems—all on their terms and in their time.
4. “Can’t hold me captive”: Developers want to be able to jump to the next “whizz-bang” thing, and a lot of them don’t want to be locked into a framework or a technology. This is why it is so important that we have a cloud that offers the flexibility to move from one environment to another, or allow them to use the best technology for their workload.
Only Developers?
With shrinking budgets, ROI is always top of mind for decision makers, and the steady growth in the industry demonstrates that more IT managers, CIOs, and CFOs recognize the value of cloud products and services. They see the advantages of not paying for data center real estate, hardware and software licenses—with the added benefit of not having to enter into a legal purchasing contract over a period of time. Businesses are also concerned with the cost of staffing. It gets into the whole CAPEX-OPEX debate. Cloud providers that have the ability to scale usually offer resources with the deep expertise in the technologies (database, software, hardware, etc.) and the 24/7 coverage, eliminating the need for some in-house resources.
Why HP?
Some folks wonder what compelled me to join HP. I can honestly say there are a number of reasons; however the main one was HP’s philosophy for fostering an environment of creativity and innovation, captured in the 12 Rules of the Garage. Since joining HP, I’ve been having a blast. I’ve worked for some really great companies and great people in my past, but I can truly say that at HP I am working with some of the smartest and brightest people that I know.
It is also clear to me that HP has a bright future in cloud computing, and cloud-based technologies. HP has a consumer business that is already cloud-based, with offerings such a Snapfish, Melodeo, MagCloud, BookPrep and ePrint. Plus, there is all the really cool stuff that’s going on with the Palm and webOS that was just announced.
No one can argue that HP has a long history of delivering great products and innovation and the cloud will be no exception. This is just the tip of the iceberg—the beginning of a 10-15 year cycle where we are going to see a lot of great new products and services, along with a massive adoption of the cloud.
This Blog…
This blog is all about cloud and technology—and keeping it real—where people can openly exchange ideas. It is the first of its kind for HP, written for developers, and mostly by developers. It is also where we will give you a peek into our “HP Cloud Garage”, sharing some of the great innovations brewing within HP and new products and services as they are announced. So keep an eye out for upcoming posts on APIs, identity, security, standards, databases, as well as topics on market movement, technological advancements, industry dynamics and even maybe a few “surprises” on our plans, etc…Stay tuned.
We look forward to many thought provoking discussions and exchanges with you. So, if you have a topic you would like to see covered or have general feedback, please e-mail us at “hpcloudblog@hp.com”/”@hpcloud” (on Twitter), or reach out to me at “esayegh@hp.com”/”@esayegh” (on Twitter).
