Cloud hosting is not (really) cloud computing

Grazed from GCN. Author: Michael C. Daconta.

In a recent customer meeting, several IT staff members were explaining some serious performance problems they were having with a newly deployed IT system. It began with a general discussion among us about the benefits of scalability and agility in cloud computing. Then they dropped a bombshell: “Oh, our application is in the cloud!”

Given our discussion about scalability in the cloud — juxtaposed with a newly deployed IT system that was not scaling even under a normal load — this statement seemed out of place. And here we have the crux of the matter: Why host a brand new IT system in the cloud and not take advantage of a core cloud benefit like scalability?…

In the federal government there are really only three possible answers to that question: First, an agency’s IT organization may be just “checking a box” to comply with the administration’s “cloud-first” policy. Cloud-first, which called on agencies give a priority to cloud-based applications and services, was announced by Jeff Zients in 2010, when he was deputy director of management at the Office of Management and Budget. This policy was later reaffirmed by federal CIO Vivek Kundra’s 25-point plan to reform federal IT and the Federal Cloud Computing Strategy. These are both good policies that may or may not be implemented well depending on an agency’s interpretation of the spirit versus the letter of the policy…

Read more from the source @ http://gcn.com/blogs/reality-check/2014/02/cloud-hosting-vs-cloud-computing.aspx

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