4 out of 5 Folks Not Quite Sure What the Cloud Is

Well, maybe not that bad but in the wake of Cloud Connect, IDC Directions and a couple other gatherings, I’ve been looking into overall cloud understanding in the market/industry. We all know that there is still significant confusion surrounding cloud computing driven by vendor claims, lack of standards and it being a *relatively* new technology tool for business. I’ll let the links do most of the talking but it is interesting to watch the videos and hear all the different opinions on what is cloud computing over the years. And it’s not just trade show attendees – the Proofpoint & Osterman Research conducted in August of 2009 showed that, ‘40 percent of the IT professionals surveyed said they were still confused by the term.’ From the 2009 Version One research, ‘two-thirds of senior business executives and 41% of senior IT professionals admit that they "don’t know" what cloud computing is.’ And the Chadwick Martin Bailey survey from earlier this year indicates ‘24 percent of polled IT decision-makers were not able to define cloud computing.’ At least the percentages are getting better as time passes but there’s still a good chunk of uncertainty even amongst IT pros and decision makers.

The Links:

What is Cloud Computing (Joyent 2008 video)
So, every cloud computing has a silver lining, eh? Ask Cisco (Cisco 2009 video)
So, What Exactly Is "The Cloud"? (InformationWeek 2010 video)
How Well Do You Know… the Cloud? (WSJ quiz Oct 2009)
Survey: Cloud Computing Confusion Continues (DarkReading Nov 2009 about Proofpoint & Osterman Research)
More Confusion Around Cloud Computing and SOA (ebizq Mar 2010)
Lack of cloud computing definition adds confusion, risk (techtarget June 2009)
Clouds of Confusion (ITBusinessEdge Nov 2009 about Proofpoint & Osterman Research)
Cloud Computing Market Confusion (Juniper Media on 2009 Version One research)
Cloud Confusion Reigns (Information Management Feb 2010 about the Chadwick Martin Bailey research)
Settling the cloud hype confusion (Accmanpro Feb 2010)
No need for cloud confusion, says Forum (Channel Pro March 2010 on CMB survey and CIF comments)
F5 Networks 2009 Cloud Computing Survey (F5’s Cloud survey Summer 2009 Slideshare)

Solution? Time. With anything new (even if it’s just a new term to describe something old) it takes time for the dust to settle, for people to fully grasp and for the industry to clearly communicate what it all means.