The recent news that Dell Computer has aligned with Joyent to provide Joyent’s cloud platform software that will be offered as a new cloud solution for web applications is not much of a surprise.  We all knew that an industry giant like Dell would soon step further into this space.  As this industry continues to fulfill its promises we will see more and more of these offerings.

Naturally, these technologies will continue to evolve in terms of pricing options and development of new technology.  There are many battles to be won along the way, including the execution of services and the shifting migration of industry to cloud computing.   A shifting economy, new broadband advances, and personal technology are among the many factors that influence the greater picture.  There is still a great deal of experimentation happening in regards to adoption in the enterprise, even amongst those that have already embraced the technology on some level.

Even amongst all this press and the "year of cloud computing", I have discovered that a majority of decision makers in the very markets that could gain the most from cloud initiatives, are leery of the whole thing.  I have heard a great deal of concern in regards to security, the retention of data, contract concerns, compliance, tenancy, and others.   Fortunately I was able to sway these discussions into a valid state of the cloud and the battles are being won on the front line.  To my colleagues, carry forth the message and spread the word.  The picture is getting clearer and that much makes the message easier everyday.

I am currently working on some features focusing on SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS leaders.  My goal is to create a very clear picture of where we are at and where things are going.  I’d like to produce a ‘State of the Cloud’ and build on that.  If you have leads or would just like to share some ideas on this, let’s get in touch.