I am a big fan of Amazon’s web services / cloud platform strategy — if for no other reason then it demonstrates their continuing ability to go places in the market before others even realize they exist. In terms of the horizontal cloud computing services providers, they are the innovation leader right now in my opinion (with some serious competitors at their heels, including Microsoft and Google).
I expect Amazon to routinely shake things up, but was still surprised at their latest announcement, about a new arrangement to run Oracle’s software in their cloud.
When I talk about cloud computing, and how it relates to our world
of B2B in the GXS Trading Grid, I usually break it into a short term
and a long term. In the short term, I see GXS continuing the
transformation of our data centers and software infrastructure from
traditional multi-legged systems to a true "cloud-style" architecture.
My simple formula for cloud style computing is kind of like Jeff Foxworthy’s "You might be a redneck" jokes:
- If you don’t know how many computers are running your solution, you might be doing cloud computing
- If you don’t know the brand/size/speed of your storage devices, you might be doing cloud computing
- If the only servers you encounter personally are at restaurants, you might be doing cloud computing
- If
you don’t understand why anyone would care about their operating
system, or how you could "run out of capacity" — you are definitely
doing cloud computing!
(for a more serious definition, that I mostly agree with it, check out what wikipedia has to say…)
Note that when I joke about not caring about your "operating
system", I mean the one the individual servers are running. As cloud
infrastructures expand, they tend to create what you might call a
"cloud operating system". The easiest examples of this are Google AppEngine and Salesforce.com’s AppExchange,
but I think as the number of services Amazon offers grows (S3, EC2,
SMS, etc), they too become more important than the underlying OS
(usually linux variants for Amazon). It is the capabilities of these
cloud operating systems that differentiate the providers, from one
another, and from previous eras of computing (no, this is not just
going back to the mainframe).
All kidding aside — the other thing I think about is the long
term. Will even large service providers operate their own data
centers, running specific servers and operating systems, or become
residents of another company’s "cloud". Note that this is way bigger
than owning assets. ASPs, co-location, etc is really more financial
engineering, as evidenced by the fact that you can easily (well,
somewhat easily) switch providers.
It may be a stretch, but I liken this to leasing space and hiring
contract employees to do build things for you. Another example is
leasing a truck from Ryder and paying a contracting firm to provide a
driver.
Using another company’s cloud (similar to what Nicholas Carr wrote about in The Big Switch,
is more like partnering with a Flextronics or Celestica (contract
manufacturers with substantial capabilities), or working with a DHL,
UPS or FedEx for logistics. Beyond outsourcing the work, you also gain
access to a collection of systems that are differentiated. Switching
is still possible, but it is not "plug and play", and you are probably
getting far more value than just an asset play.
So what does any of this have to do with Oracle and Amazon? Well I
have been thinking the "long term", when cloud infrastructures operated
by the big guys (whoever those turn out to be . . .), actually replace
the primary data centers for larger companies, is 10-15 years out –
but now I wonder. The ability to run traditional enterprise software
– like Oracle — with a rational licensing model and support, was a
major stumbling block, but may not be for much longer (if other
companies follow Oracle’s lead).
I am reminded that the future typically arrives ahead of schedule…
Tags: cloudcomputing, Oracle, Amazon, business