Markus Klems

Markus Klems' Blog What are the benefits from using Cloud Computing services or platforms? Cost efficiency, shorter innovation cycles and scalability are frequently mentioned promises. However, the value proposition of Cloud Computing obviously depends on the corresponding business scenario. You cannot properly value the benefits from using Cloud Computing services unless you know and understand the relevant parameters of your project. The question is: which are criteria that make Cloud Computing services a valuable infrastructure for certain projects? Which are criteria that have a negative impact? This is an attempt to find criteria that might be helpful in categorizing Cloud Computing business scenarios. Feel free to leave comments… Business Case * Application Hosting / SaaS * Backup and Storage * Business Continuity Planning (Disaster Recovery) * Content Delivery *... (more)

The Cloud Computing Ecosphere: Main Companies and Applications Classified

Markus Klems' Blog In an attempt to better understand the nature of cloud computing I tried to draw a classification of some companies and applications that spawn in the cloud. Three different cloud computing levels Infrastructure The heart of the cloud is what some people call Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). This is as near to bare metal as we can get: pure storage and compute capacity. With virtualization techniques it is packaged into small units that are delivered like water or electricity (notion of utility computing). Infrastructure as a Service Platforms The next layer... (more)

Cloud Computing & Force.com: Multitenancy vs Single Tenancy

Marcus Klems' Blog Is a machine-centric Cloud Computing environment more suitable for delivering single-tenant instances? Steve Bobrowski wrote an interesting whitepaper about the Force.com Multitenant Architecture. He describes multitenancy as a design approach to improve the manageability of SaaS applications and metadata-driven architecture as the choice to implement multitenancy. Steve writes that IaaS as a machine-centric Cloud Computing environment is more suitable for delivering single-tenant instances (compared to a “true” multitenant PaaS solution). This is an interesti... (more)

Merrill Lynch Estimates "Cloud Computing" To Be $100 Billion Market

Marcus Klems' Blog What do the following companies all have in common: Amazon, Microsoft, Google, EMC, VMware, IBM, Sun, Dell, Akamai, SalesForce.com, NetSuite, and Activision. Answer: Cloud Computing. Merrill Lynch analysts reckon that by 2011 the volume of cloud computing market opportunity will amount to $160BN, including $95N in business and productivity apps (e-mail, office, CRM, etc.) and $65BN in online advertising. Merrill Lynch recently issued a research note: “The Cloud Wars: $100+ billion at stake” (07 May 2008). The analysts write that by 2011 the volume of cloud com... (more)

Cloud Computing is a Developer-Facing Business

Markus Klems' Blog Cloud Computing is not so much about SaaS (people already use Webmail, Google Docs, Salesforce, etc.). It is about virtualized hardware resources provided for developers as services on a pay-per-use basis. I do not understand how people can seriously argue they won’t go into the Cloud. They are already there. A recent article about Cloud Computing in the German weekly ZEIT made me think of a blog post of mine on data security in the cloud. Although the article is quite positive and describes Cloud Computing as a disruptive technology that will have a huge impa... (more)