Incomplete Thought: “The Cloud in the Enterprise: Big Switch or Little Niche?”
Joe Weinman wrote an interesting post in advance of his panel at Structure ’10 titled “The Cloud in the Enterprise: Big Switch or Little Niche?” wherein he explored the future of Cloud adoption.
In this blog, while framing the discussion with Nick Carr‘s (in)famous “Big Switch” utility analog, he asks the question:
So will enterprise cloud computing represent The Big Switch, a dimmer switch or a little niche?
…to which I respond:
I think it will be analogous to the “Theory of Punctuated Equilibrium,” wherein we see patterns not unlike classical dampened oscillations with many big swings ultimately settling down until another disruption causes big swings again. In transition we see niches appear until they get subsumed in the uptake.
Or, in other words such as those I posted on Twitter: “…lots of little switches AND big niches“
Go see Joe’s panel. Better yet, comment on your thoughts here. 😉
/Hoff
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You would've thought that people would have learnt that there is no planning for the "next big thing" no matter the wishful thinking and the copious amounts of press that some ideas, products, … get.
Yes, there will be people switching to the cloud and there will be those that will keep their enterprise data centre facility and there will be those that will keep their enterprise data centre functionality by utilising someone else's facilities. I completely agree, we'll see a number of small niches, a number of big niches and a lot of enterprise IT life as usual. Big switch? Revolution? No, just evolution in IT operations.
You're a smart squirrel and know to keep nuts in many different hideaways, not all in "one true safe place". I guess others are betting on the one safe storage – and will see their nuts squirreled away by smarter squirrels.
All this talk of vaporware. 🙂