April 20, 2011

Why go to Cloud and How


Why Cloud Computing

These seem to be the characteristics that everyone agrees on.

For Vendors:
  • Resource pooling - more efficient use of hardware resources by pooling usages together
  • Self-provisioning - minimizes the amount of human-to-human hand-holding that adds to the management overhead

For Buyers:
  • Highly responsive to usage demand - crank up or tone down usage in near real-time instead of month
  • Measured pricing - only pay for what you use

The unique Cloud advantage that has hitherto been illusive for organizations is to have a nimble infrastructure at a lower cost at the same time. This is why new companies today are jumping on the Cloud because you no longer need to spend the first two million dollars in venture funding to build out a server farm for a demand that may or may not materialize.

Why Cloud Computing

But, what if you are a large established enterprise with millions of active users everyday. Does this automatically relegate you to the dinosaur status in the Cloud world?

Not according to Netflix.

In this (below) and other presentations by Adrian Cockcroft, Cloud Architect of Netflix, he pointed to several reasons for going to the Cloud.

  1. Its subscribers and usage is growing faster than its own organic data center growth can support
  2. It is planning international expansions
  3. It was launching an iPhone app, a gated process which only allows for one shot in getting it right.

In short, for a 20 million active user enterprise like Netflix, Cloud offers a practical (support rapid growth in existing market), strategic (new market penetration), and technical (robust development and deployment) solution for its needs.

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