A head in the clouds or ahead in the cloud?

Computer Weekly Editor in Chief Bryan Glick recently wrote a blog article (http://bit.ly/8ZkxZI) in which he quotes an IT director who instantly puts the phone down on any IT supplier mentioning the words “cloud computing”. Although Bryan rightly points out that there has been a significant amount of ‘cloudwash’ he does conclude by saying that ‘more than anything else, what “the cloud” really offers IT leaders is the opportunity to innovate.’

At Rackspace, we’d agree that the cloud allows IT leaders to innovate, but in our opinion, cloud is a reality, and a very real part of what we do. It’s right here, right now and we’ve seen our cloud sales go through the roof – 125% in 2009, despite the worst economic conditions for years.

Whilst we’ve got customers who have shifted their entire IT infrastructure to the cloud, it’s always important to consider what works for you and your organisation. It may well be that cloud is optimal for certain applications in certain organisations; other companies may wish to simply outsource everything to the cloud. 

Cloud is also a relatively simple concept, and to paraphrase our Chairman, Graham Weston’s words on the Independent recently, it’s all part of the ‘pay as you go’ economy. Our Cloud Servers and Cloud Files offer on-demand servers and on-demand storage. It’s IT on the fly, as you need it. Don’t pay for what you don’t need, pay for what you use.

Once you understand that, then you can get on with the innovation.