In response to yet another mainstream press bungling of “cloud and cloud computing”, Lori MacVittie offers a clear and concise cloud computing delineation: “Users use Applications. Applications use clouds.” Lori expands on this point:
“Cloud computing is not a synonym for cloud. And vice-versa. Cloud computing is perhaps the first case of “technology for technology’s sake” that is actually a good thing. That’s because cloud computing is for applications. It’s not for users, it’s for applications. A cloud computing environment without an application is pretty much useless. A dynamic collection of compute resources that remains unfulfilled, idly spinning disks and catching CPU interrupts willy nilly without purpose.
Users, i.e. consumers, never really interact with a cloud computing environment, they interact with an application. Many folks identify SaaS (Software as a Service) as “cloud” because many of the properties associated with cloud computing – scalability, multi-tenancy, on-demand usage and dynamic adjustment to capacity – are inherently part of the offering. That may – or may not – be because the underlying infrastructure on which those applications are deployed is, in fact, a cloud computing infrastructure.”
“…Let’s say that again: an application is not “a cloud”, its supporting infrastructure and environment are “a cloud.” An application may be a cloud-based application or service, but it is never, ever a “cloud” itself nor are you using “cloud computing” by simple virtue of accessing that application. You are using an application, the application is using cloud computing.”
After a much appreciated reference to my cloud-o-gram, Lori continues with an analogy to the SOA-world:
“A “cloud” is really an architecture that exhibits particular characteristics (on-demand, multi-tenant, rapid elasticity, resource pooling) that enable applications deployed atop that architecture to appear “infinitely scalable.” Saying an application is or is not cloud is like saying an application is or is not SOA. The application may leverage a SOA, it may be comprised of services (a “composite application”) but it is not SOA. It can’t be because SOA is an architecture, a design and deployment model, a means of interaction between services.”
So, the next time you witness cloud / cloud computing bungling, repeat after Lori: “an application is not “a cloud”, its supporting infrastructure and environment are “a cloud.””
