Are a new set of cloud standards starting to form?

So it is with the developing shape of cloud computing. Definition is starting to emerge in the skies with the establishment of a set of standards seeking to best facilitate its adoption. Will they eliminate the confusion that currently shrouds the stuff? It’s a subject that’s scored a whack of attention from folks anxious to corral usability within manageable parameters. We take a look at some of the organizations trying to set the tone for this game changer.

Cloud Standards Customer Council.

This end-user advocacy group claims ownership of more than 100 members. It exists to complement existing cloud standards efforts. It seeks the production of a core set of client-driven requirements that lower the barriers for widespread cloud adoption by prioritizing key interoperability issues, including cloud management, reference architecture and hybrid clouds. It also hopes, with its existence, to facilitate the exchange of real-world stories that might provide illumination and insight into the practical application of this complicated new beast. A “resource hub” on the council’s website offers case studies in which users might find a useful reflection of themselves. The site also provides a compilation of industry news stories on the cloud, and cloud-based webcasts and podcasts can be accessed here. Notable members: Citigroup, Deere & Co., Costco Wholesale, North Carolina State University.

Open Data Center Alliance.

This Intel-backed standards organization was formed last year. Principles claim the membership represents more than $100 billion in annual IT spending power. This organization is behind the recent development of eight discreet “usage models,” designed to help IT managers in negotiations with cloud providers through the provision of various standardized templates. Indeed, this independent IT consortium is dedicated to having these usage models in widespread application in order to best help newcomers comprehensively appreciate the expected delivery of identified customer requirements based on open, industry-standard and multivendor solutions. Notable members: BMW, Marriott International, Shell and Deutsche Bank.

Cloud Security Alliance.

This not-for-profit, member-driven organization is committed to promoting the best practices for security assurance provision within cloud computing. Led by a broad coalition of industry practitioners, corporations and associations, the alliance is also keen to provide education on this subject for new users struggling with its dimensions. Its site helpfully lists upcoming events, such as the Cloud Security Alliance Conference 2011 (in Orlando, November 16 and 17). A blog features entries with such titles as, “Pass the Buck: Who’s Responsible for Security in the Cloud?” and “Understanding Best-in-Class Cloud Security Measures and How to Evaluate Providers.” It also provides a highly useful forum for the dissemination of the latest news, research developments and educational opportunities. Notable members: Coca-Cola, eBay, Reed Elsevier.

So as we move into the new paradigm keep an eye out for these cloud players; who knows, they may set the standards your organization has to meet.

Predicting the effects of new technology can be a challenge

Although it’s still early days, from a long-range historical point of view, the cloud has actually hovered above our various computer-powered preoccupations for a good few years now. Adoption rates for this game-changer motor ever forward, with bugs being identified and addressed, and capabilities being increasingly celebrated.

But it’s worth noting that we remain far from an end point in our understanding of, and appreciation for, this paradigm-shifting newcomer to our daily lives. The Microsoft-produced white paper, The Economics of the Cloud (TK), offers some insight on how this new age might evolve, and urges its proponents to take the long view and see the underlying economics as having the biggest impact on long term take-up rates.

What are the Future Prospects for the Cloud?

It’s always instructive to refer back to other examples of revolutionary design to gain a sense of the way a new advancement might unfold. The world’s first automobiles were described as “horseless carriages,” and they were designed just as their equine-powered predecessors had been—complete with whip holders—in spite of the revised absence of such requirements. “Engineers initially failed to understand the new possibilities of the new paradigm,” the paper points out, “such as building for higher speeds, or greater safety.” Just as in the early days of the car business, it’s difficult to predict where this novelty will take us, but it’s critical not to be hemmed in by restrictions that no longer apply.

Technical complexities and adoption hurdles steal most of the ink these days in literature covering the cloud, as was highlighted in our previous blog entry Calming (Mis) Conceptions about the Cloud. The Microsoft white paper points out the detriment to users’ exploitation of the technology such misinformation creates. Historically, however, it’s been underlying economics that have in fact had a much stronger impact on the direction and speed of disruptions, as technological challenges are resolved or overcome through the rapid innovation to which we‘ve become accustomed.

The cloud allows core IT infrastructure to be brought into large data centres that take advantage of significant economies of scale in three areas: supply-side savings (amortizing costs across multiple servers), demand-side aggregation (reducing variability) and multi-tenancy efficiency (amortizing costs across multiple customers).

Making the Most for your Business – Cloud Flexibility

Capitalizing on these economic benefits is the trick. Just as engineers had to fundamentally rethink design in the early days of the car so too will developers have to rethink their approach to this new era of application design. The concepts of multi-tenancy and demand-side aggregation will represent a formidable challenge for developers and IT departments after all; whatever their level of sophistication. And if you screw up, you could find yourself enjoying only some of the savings on offer, or, even paying more for application development than you currently do.

Onwards and upwards, then. And leave the whip holder in the dust.

But the call for corporate responsibility is a profound and meaningful one whose noisy bleats are unrelenting. And this inside a growing understanding that more and more pollution derives from computing. The Environmental Protection Agency in the US declared that a full 1.5% of total electricity consumed in 2006 came from this source.

Take fresh heart then that there is a new opportunity for you to be greener still—and it lies in the skies.

Cloud Reduces Corporate Carbon Footprint

A recent Microsoft-commissioned study has concluded that cloud computing — the remote-hosting darling of the computerized corporate landscape that’s already turning heads with its promises of decreased costs and increased flexibility — is actually good for the environment.

By comparing the energy usage of those business applications that are resident on site to their cloud-based equivalents, researchers have identified a remarkable disparity that points to the latter’s potential to save companies — at minimum — some 30% in energy consumption and carbon emissions.

At the far end of the scale, enormous public cloud environments and large data centres, such as those helmed by the likes of Google and Amazon, enjoy those savings courtesy of vast economies of scale, virtualization, dynamically-provisioned software and other well-entrenched operational efficiencies that already characterize their massive operation.

Benefits Even Greater for Small Business

More critically, though, those organizations at the other end — i.e., small businesses that employ just 100 users or so — can score even higher by undertaking a switch to a cloud-based environment.

By incorporating the dynamic provisioning, more responsive server utilization and other efficiency-inspiring strategies cloud computing offers, these companies stand to save by an astonishing 90% or more. The smaller the operation is, it turns out, the greater the environmental benefits.

Mid-sized companies whose user base hovers around 1,000 can expect savings of 60%-90%.

The Methodology

The study honed in on three popular on-premise Microsoft business applications: Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Microsoft SharePoint Server 2007. It contrasted each with a cloud-based alternative, namely: Microsoft Exchange Online, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online and Microsoft SharePoint Online.

Methodically, it determined the carbon footprint and energy expenditure produced by typical corporate IT data centres, complete with servers and storage dedicated to separate applications. It did so considering deployment scenes featuring 100, 1,000 and 10,000 users. It compared and contrasted traditional and hosted scenarios.

In turn the study, conducted by Accenture and sustainability consulting company WSP Energy & Environment, concluded that there is much to be gained by a wholesale adoption of hosted computer services. Indeed, researchers point out simply shifting 50,000 e-mail users from individual Exchange servers to Microsoft Exchange Online translates into emissions savings of 32%.

The future, more apparently than ever, resides in the clouds.

SharePoint is a browser-based collaboration and document-management platform from Microsoft. Effectively a content-management system, SharePoint allows groups to set up a centralized, password-protected space for document sharing. Here, documents can be stored, downloaded and edited, and then uploaded for continued sharing. SharePoint can also host specialized applications, such as wikis and blogs, from within a browser.

The logic behind the concept is that an organization’s effectiveness can by streamlined by having someone else oversee the maintenance of a server, and the management of the data on it. Corporate clients have outsiders host applications on a SharePoint platform such that developers can focus on the application and not have to worry about such minutiae as access, permissions and coordinating look-and-feel with other applications.

A feature-rich document storage site and retrieval system, SharePoint boasts a cache of tools that includes document storage, tasks, calendars, announcements and contacts—data-dense material that SharePoint frees from a multitude of desktop folders on company servers. Users can also sync up their MS Outlook to work with SharePoint to share calendars and appointments.

SharePoint works in units called sites, which are really just collections of tools. A single business may have many sites and sub-sites, each with SharePoint’s drill-down capability.

Users can access SharePoint from anywhere: through their web browser, Outlook or compatible Microsoft Office applications like Word 2007 and Excel 2007. And you can further customize your SharePoint site with Microsoft SharePoint Designer 2007 and Visual Studio 2005 access.

It is a brilliant, easy and seamless integrate into your corporate culture. Good-bye Windows Explore with in nested directories and unsearchable documents.

360 Visibility: Points worth Sharing

At 360 Visibility, our hosted SharePoint service has been built with component-level redundancy, and is housed in one of the most sophisticated data centres on the market. Clients can develop business-line applications delivered through a secure portal to help increase their efficiencies.

With the click of a button they can set up new accounts, reset passwords and manage storage. The whole point of hosted SharePoint, after all, is to relieve non-technically minded administrators of the burden of IT expertise. And users also gain access to 360’s considerable resources to create their own rocking applications featuring cool and uber-efficient functionality like automated processes and event-driven e-mail alerts.

And of course the choice to sign on with 360’s hosted SharePoint services means access to an expertly managed—and individually customized—Microsoft Windows environment without having to invest in the building and maintenance of a comparably outfitted in-house system. You pay only for the service you need and sidestep handily the initial outlay of installation, to say nothing of the ongoing cost of support.

Best of all, SharePoint users can rest assured knowing their SharePoint site—managed capably by Microsoft Gold Certified staff—is always available to them through redundancy and 24×7 monitoring.