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January 31, 2012

Cloud for Dummies' Author Paints a Pretty Picture for Cloud Computing

By Tammy Wolf, TMCnet Web Editor

It’s the eve of ITEXPO (News - Alert) East 2012, and those already arriving for the big show certainly won’t kick off the big event with a parched mouth.



Tonight’s pre-conference seminar and networking event – dubbed “Avaya Technology on Tap” – served up a big glass of cloud computing to attendees, who got the unique opportunity to gain insights from cloud connoisseur and Avaya’s (News - Alert) keynote speaker Judith Hurwitz.

The co-author of “Cloud Computing for Dummies,” Hurwitz took the stage to shed light on some of today’s most challenging technology obstacles and transitions faced by IT organizations. On tap during a portion of the event was the shift to cloud computing and its impact on collaboration enablement among businesses and enterprises.

Drawing upon insights from her newest book, “Smart or Lucky: How Technology Leaders Turn Chance Into Success,” Hurwitz used unique imagery and metaphors to help the audience digest the transformational aspect of cloud computing. So, to learn what evolution, air conditioning and a car garage have to do with the cloud, read on:

The “evolution” of cloud: Did you know that the history of the cloud goes back decades? That’s right. According to Hurwitz, time sharing, hosting, managed services and even the Internet saw their beginnings as far back as the 1960s. Then, in the 1980s, electronic e-mail began to permeate through the offices of large businesses. Meanwhile, groupware emerged as a brand-new concept in the ’70s, and knowledge management – or the idea of sharing knowledge and data in one common system – appeared.

This all eventually paved a pretty smooth path to where the cloud is now, says Hurwitz.

“If we think of the cloud as the evolution from the Internet into something much bigger and more directed at solving more complex business problems, it will have a revolutionary impact on computing. We’re only seeing the tip of the iceberg for that,” she told a packed room in Miami’s conference center, where ITEXPO is currently underway.

In a visual display, Hurwitz continued to explain how the transition from mainframes to computers to client/server to browsers, and then to Internet, Web applications, grid computing, virtualization and finally the arrival of cloud infrastructures, has been the “evolution linking up to the cloud.”

“We’re not done yet,” said Hurwitz.

The data center is like a garage: Just like a garage accumulates random collections of possessions – from cars to tools to bicycles – it eventually becomes overloaded with “stuff.” Similarly, the data center at one time was a place where businesses kept their day-to-day key systems, no matter what they were. Inevitably, the data center – just like the garage – needed a cleanup, which came in the form of the cloud, of course.

According to Hurwitz, companies are going about several ways to organize and manage the overflow of “things.” The answer is to move to virtualization, or a public, private or hybrid cloud – all of which make improve the management, efficiency and support of business requirements.

The refrigerator is to air conditioning, as collaboration is to cloud computing: Air conditioning exists today solely because someone turned the same technology used in a refrigerator to cool air. But just as the inventor of the refrigerator probably never thought it would lead to an innovation like air conditioning, the idea of the cloud is just on the brink for what’s ahead of us.

 “Cloud computing requires a flexible cloud infrastructure. This lends itself to linking things together rather than coating them together. You can see how this type of environment supports the ability to connect to something interesting… and seek out relationships you never knew existed. You never know where an innovation like cloud computing, or refrigeration, will take society,” she said.

Stay tuned to TMCnet for onsite coverage of ITEXPO’s sessions, keynotes and collocated events over the next few days.

Want to learn more about cloud communications? Then be sure to attend the Cloud Communications Expo, collocated with TMC’s ITEXPO East 2012 taking place Jan. 31-Feb. 3 2012, in Miami, FL. The Cloud Communications Expo will address the growing need of businesses to integrate and leverage cloud based communications applications, process enhancement techniques, and network based communications interfaces and architectures. For more information on registering for the Cloud Communications Expo click here.

Stay in touch with everything happening at ITEXPO. Follow us on Twitter.


Tammy Wolf is a TMCnet web editor. She covers a wide range of topics, including IP communications and information technology. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Carrie Schmelkin

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