Downsizing: An Upside of Cloud Computing
15 March 2011
Many IT professionals are drawn to cloud computing due to the attractiveness of scalability- being able to expand service coverage with no increase in price per user. Although upward growth is the most desirable trajectory in business, what about when you need less of a cloud service? The answer is, you scale down, and PAY less. No seat count lock-in, just efficient use of IT resources.
This no-excess computing was the subject of a speech given by James Staten of Forrester Research at Cloud Connect 2011, as reported by Charles Babcock of InformationWeek. His argument may seem like a cynical view of cloud computing, but it is a concept businesses should get used to if they plan on deploying IT solutions in the cloud.
The hump many will have to overcome is in the transition to elastic scalability, as described by Staten. Historically, IT consisted of hardware which could handle a range of usage. When you needed more, you bought more hardware. When you needed less, you were stuck with a capital expense collecting dust. Now, Staten argues, IT has experienced a paradigm shift. In the future of cloud-based IT, you will pay for what you need- no more, no less.
-McAfee Cloud Security
