March 12, 2011
Discussion on an IT Certification Website:
Why is Cloud Computing important and isn't Microsoft's advertising message campaign on Cloud Computing rather juvenile?
We certainly agree on something. The Microsoft ads about Cloud Computing are utterly ridiculous.
I know a great deal more about Microsoft than I have said in this forum, and I can tell you that I am certain that they want a leadership role in the Cloud Computing space, and this is especially true because of all the TENS OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS that they spent building mega-Data Centers in places like San Antonio (where the P.U.E. and the C.U.E. will be abysmal due to the summer heat there), Chicago (where the north half of that 705,000 sq ft Data Center is still in the moth balls), and Dublin (where the will literally suck 5% of that country's power off the grid), etc. February 2011 was the historic month where BING eclipsed YAHOO, but guess what, most of the YAHOO Data Center Leadership is now inside Microsoft Data Center Services. Yet Microsoft's executive management Team, much of which has been sacked in the past 18 months, is very impatient about the slow adoption of Cloud Customers, because they were hoping that customers would speed up their ROI. (Personally, I think they were working of the Field of Dreams model - "If you build it, they will come.") Look up the famous Cloud Computing memos of Bill Gates and Ray Ozzie from October 2005 and you will see the beginnings of Microsoft's Cloud Lust.
So here is my prediction:
The need for companies to achieve compliance with the ISO 27001 ISMS Standard that is wrapped in PDCA will drive companies to strongly consider Microsoft's Cloud Computing offerings. You see, Microsoft didn't just build Cloud Data Centers. They busted their rear ends and made them all ISO 27001 compliant. As of 2010, about 7300 companies had embraced the ISO 27001 certification, and that number is growing. Those companies that cannot afford to build Data Centers that are ISO 27001 will contract with Microsoft to migrate their IT assets into Microsoft Cloud Data Centers because they are ISO 27001 compliant and because the ROI will support it.
You see, after the big IT ramp up in the 1990s, and the bust in the early 2000s, the folks that run IT have been all about two things: 1) doing more and more with less and less money (Moore's Law applies to people and your career also); and 2) doing it according to standards and in a secure way. That's when you started to hear things about ROI, TCO, ROSI, reengineering for greater and greater efficiency, service management, compliance management, etc.
For example, the Microsoft Chicago Data Center, when it is maxed out with physical servers, will contain over 330,000, yet they will run it with a staff of about 33 people. That's a ratio of 10,000 servers per person, and 20,000 servers per person if you consider that half their staff is dedicated to Facility operations. The standards and security needs are covered by ISO 27001, which offers a standard way to ensure uniform security compliance and complaince management under Deming's PDCA model.
I won't explain how I know all this stuff. That's not important. I will explain that I am doing it by day and teaching it by night. I will also tell you that management is in a quiet rush to embrace ISO 27001 because they realize the (unpleasant) business consequences of not doing so.
So there you have it - the Cloud and why. Oh, almost forgot. It is definitely a marketecture term. the same as "Digital Divide" and other terms that have repeating consonants are marketecture terms. It just turns out that Cloud Computing (or whatever sexy term you want to call it) is real and it will dominate the foreseeable future because the economics and financial models support it, and the requirements for security standards compliance will drive businesses in that direction whether IT geeks like it or not. This is why I strongly believe that our future in IT is "Cloudy", let's hope they won't be like those clouds on Saturn's moon Titan or the planet Venus.
In parting comments, for what it's worth, last Tuesday, March 8, 2011, I told my students that I teach in the evening, the future of IT careers is in these areas:
Data Center Management and Development
Project Management
Program Management
Compliance Management (especially IT Security)
Service Management
Risk Management
ISO 27001 / ISO 27002
ISM3
PDCA
(Note to self, need slow down and consider getting that ISACA CRISC ASAP.)
William F. Slater III
ISMS Architect and Data Center Manager
“It doesn’t matter how many or which certifications you have. It only matters how well you communicate and how well you enable your organization to be successful in its business environment.”
-William F. Slater III
P.S. Google or BING P.U.E. and the C.U.E. and you will see what that means with regards to efficient Data Center operations. Greg Schulz would be very proud of you.
P. P.S. Google or BING Microsoft ISO 27001 Data Center certification. Steve Ballmer and MS Global Foundation Services (lots of white papers) would both be very proud of you.
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I started that thread with this posting:
The Art of Service, which is already well known for their ITIL Training materials and ISO Training materials instituted a Cloud Computing Certification program.
It is based heavily on ITIL and technical infrastructure management concepts and appears to be fairly solid and respectable.
I am currently studying the Cloud Computing Foundation and will sit for this exam in probably two weeks or less.
This is the Cloud Computing Pathway program:
Cloud Computing Foundation
Cloud Computing Specialist - Virtualization
Cloud Computing Specialist - SaaS and Web Applications
Cloud Computing Specialist - PaaS and Storage Management
Cloud Computing Specialist - Services Management
Cloud Computing Specialist - Managing Services in the Cloud
Cloud Computing Expert - Master (when you pass the 6 above)
http://store.theartofservice.com/all-products/cloud-computing-pathway-comple-elearning-bundle.html
I am doing this because:
1) I am a dedicated and seasoned IT professional who sees Cloud Computing as the next disruptive paradigm shift
2) I used to manage a Cloud Data Center so I know what happens and how it works and looks from the inside
3) I am ITIL Foundation v2 and v3 certified and I know what that is about
4) I ran an enormous ITIL Services migration project not long ago
5) I enjoy learning new stuff and getting certified in it, especially whenit seems to be the next BIG THING in IT.
Cheers!
William F. Slater III
ISMS Architect and Data Center Manager
“It doesn’t matter how many or which certifications you have. It only matters how well you communicate and how well you enable your organization to be successful in its business environment.”
-William F. Slater III
Copyright 2011 by William F. Slater, III, Chicago, IL, USA, All Rights Reserved, Nationally and Internationally.
Last Updated: Sunday, March 13, 2011 |