Point of view - cloud and integration
09/11/2010 01:04 PMBack in the Fall of 2008 at Professional Developers Conference (PDC) Microsoft published for the first time their Azure cloud computing concept. During the present year Azure has been commercially available and Microsoft announced in their biggest conference of the year (Worldwide Partner Conference, WPC) that they are "All-In" with cloud.
Even though cloud computing is not anymore a new thing within ICT markets there will be definitely a change how enterprises purchase, host and manage their applications. Even the term revolution has been used about the current IT era. Regardless of how radical the change will be the usage of Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) will definitely grow compared to traditional models. From systems integration point of view the change will bring also some challenges whether they are around technology, privacy or continuity. In any case the impact of cloud has to be taken in account in R&D roadmap and future development in systems integration and of course in other ICT areas.
Important areas for developing new software products whether they use cloud services or traditional applications are controllability, manageability and measurability. For enterprises to gain the needed edge in competitive markets require not only to automate their key processes but also constant development of them. Publishing clear tangible metrics to business development for observing, improving and remodelling offers means to gain the edge. These areas are important also in our research and development cycles for the new product versions when we are heading towards even more effective and productive solutions.
Response to “Point of view - cloud and integration”
However, the technical architecture starts to be available already. In Microsoft cloud platform there are already components such as .NET Services (that started as BizTalk Services some years ago) with its Internet Service Bus, authentication and authorization features etc. On the other hand, the availability of AppFabric with its workflow hosting capabilities etc. in Azure will make integration in the cloud technically feasible. The question is - who will start using these features, and when?
My guess is that the first organizations that will start utilizing these capabilities are not typical industry organizations, but loosely coupled networks of organizations. B2B integration has been there for decades, but bringing the process integration capabilities into the cloud makes it possible to coordinate the information exchange in more controlled manner e.g. in logistics networks, tightly coordinated subcontracting processes driven by some key players in specific industry sector, etc.
Another potential - but surely self-evident - lead user with cloud-based integration services could be the public sector. For instance, here in Finland, there is an ongoing public debate about the lack of integration between different government organizations. When these organizations are starting to coordinate their information exchange in more controlled manner, there are no technical limitations where the integration should be hosted - they could as well reside in the cloud.
On the other hand... what new is there in the cloud services anyway? It is just a question where to host computing - and this cycle has been going on for decades - from 50's computing centres to the mainframes in 60's and 70's, to the advent of PC in 80's, bringing the computing near the end user, to the Internet in 90's, Application Service Providers (ASPs) in late 90's and early 2000's,...
Response to “Point of view - cloud and integration”
Response to “Point of view - cloud and integration”
Response to “Point of view - cloud and integration”
Response to “Point of view - cloud and integration”
Response to “Point of view - cloud and integration”