Shaping the Cloud

Category: Cloud   |   Presented By: Atos

Cloud computing is the underlying utility-like architecture
for IT infrastructure that allows cloud
services to happen; it defines a multi-tenant or
shared environment, scalable up and down, and
flexible, with easy entry and, preferably but not
always, easy exit.
It does rely on some enabling technologies, such
as virtualisation and high-bandwidth reliable internet
access, which together decouple usage
from the systems on which they run, but there is
not so much technology within cloud computing
itself which is really new. Virtual LAN’s and system
virtualisation have been around for years, or
even decades.
The changes in Cloud Computing are more in
the scales of deployment, with some services
deploying thousands of servers, and in particular
the business and services models, and the demand/
supply engagements involved. These, in
turn, depend on a level of standardisation, with
an acceptance by users that that standard is
good enough for most purposes.
It relies on enormous economies of scale and
the ability to “milk the assets”, much more so
than can be done with a traditional built-to-order
environment, where costs and replacement policies
were largely driven by depreciation cycles.
Cloud providers can combine the latest new
systems with old equipment, which can be used
until it breaks, transparently to the user

tags Information Technology | Cloud Computing | IT Infrastructure | Cloud