Some technology leaders insist that cloud computing is a verb; as in, the cloud is an operating model, a way to run applications that may or may not involve public cloud infrastructure. What exactly is the definition of cloud as a verb? And which vendors are best positioned to deliver products that embody it?

We’re seeing a new mentality and new roles develop around cloud, according to Peter Burris (@plburris), host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio. “The cloud does force changes to the way you think about business problems and methods,” he said. 

Take microservices, for example. They are not just a technology. They bring along with them a whole new approach to attacking problems. This new approach informs everything in microservice-driven environments. 

The cloud philosophy of agile development, rapid innovation, and spin-up-spin-down experimentation is taking hold in enterprises. “Tooling and approaches for doing that are starting to mature very rapidly.” Burris added.

Burris analyzed evolving cloud methods and tooling during the IBM Innovation Day event in Yorktown Heights, New York. (* Disclosure below.)

Greenfields and old faithfuls find place in hybrid

The term cloud is more and more often hyphenated with hybrid lately. This is because enterprises largely aren’t prepared to go all-in on public cloud.

“We can’t just talk about greenfield applications,” Burris said. Enterprises have made enormous investments in stateful, database-driven, operational applications.

“Those applications have to move forward, if nothing more, at least from a management standpoint,” he added. “How can we bring a management mindset and operating model of the cloud to start to change and evolve how we manage those applications?”

Enterprises are pressing vendors to deliver technologies that can achieve this. They’re responding with products that promise a cloud experience on-premises with hybrid offerings that fuse cloud services with customer data centers. There is Amazon Web Services Inc.’s new on-prem cloud product Outposts, for example.

IBM Corp. recently acquired Red Hat Inc. for $34 billion. This is a huge move by IBM to gain dominance in the hybrid market with Red Hat’s open-source-based offerings like OpenShift, according to analysts.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the IBM Innovation Day event. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for the IBM Innovation Day event. Neither IBM, the event sponsor, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: IBM