The IT Executive Exchange group met on June 12 to discuss business and technical issues related to Cloud Computing. Few members in attendance have experience with cloud computing. As per the discussion, some of the benefits of cloud computing include minimizing hardware and running applications off site with ownership and management still available. Other motivations involve cost savings of shared servers and a minimal security issues. Potential drawbacks relates to security & data transfer and it becomes clear that firms remain tethered to the cloud as it attempts to share data internally. The primary utilization of cloud computing of some of the companies present currently consists of e-mail. Although there remains no formal definition of cloud computing, an informal definition is obtainable by applying the purpose of the model to an active definition. The model of cloud computing implies capacity on demand such that the cloud can add or subtract servers as necessary to meet demand. Consequently, the user pays for only that capacity which is necessary. The complexity of the entire IT industry is rapidly advancing. In sum, industry CIO’s face a mosaic of both long and short-term choices entailing critical decisions. It is entirely possible that the term “cloud computing” is a mere buzzword to drive increased revenues. Only time will tell if the large IT firms gamble pays off.
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