One of the major changes in software development has been the adoption of standardized web services for the exchange of information across disparate systems. This has unleashed a torrent of mashup applications that integrate several independent platforms. I have argued that this, in turn, has brought us closer to the promise of software engineering by creating a competing, reusable component market. At the same time, Cloud Computing vendors are offering systems and/or components using these standardize interfaces. As enterprises further adopt open interconnects for components, it makes sense to also adopt services to deliver them. Is cloud computing the future for enterprises?

In the cross-media marketplace, we are seeing the rise of content management systems to manage assets, content and information for campaigns. Systems are slowly starting to adopt XML based Web Services as well as newer, lightweight interfaces such as REST and JSON. These make it easier to create interaction between data stores and production systems. One major effort geared toward enabling easier interaction between content management systems is OASIS and its Content Management Interoperability Services (CMIS) specification. 

Follow the Leaders 

Salesforce.com has shown that enterprises are willing to completely outsource systems that can deliver needed functionality with less risk and lower cost. The Force.com platform is the Salesforce.com cloud computing platform that provided more generic functionality as a service and allows for the creation of custom applications. These applications are then hosted and managed for a monthly rental fee.

Another interesting vendor is Zoho.com, which offers a number of preconfigured hosted applications built on top of their platform. Zoho CRM is eerily similar to Saleforce.com. It reminds you of early MS Excel as inspired by Lotus 123. Is a copyright lawsuit coming? Zoho also offers specific tools to enable application creation and integration. Zoho Creator allows you to build applications by selecting field types and then writing logic code to tie things together. They also offer CloudSQL to build and host databases tables "in the cloud." These can be connected to and from other platforms via web services and ODBC/JDBC connectors.

Not to be outdone, the largest distributed computing environment is managed by Google. In beta (it seems all of the products are always in beta) is the Google AppEngine. The AppEngine can be used to create custom applications which are then executed by Google servers. This theoretically allows for a scalable application to be built, will little or no concern about scalability issues. The preview service is currently available with free quota limits of 500MB of storage and enough CPU and bandwidth for about 5 million page views per month. In an interesting twist, the Zoho Creator can be used to build and test applications and then deploy them to Google AppEngine.

Why Oh Why Cloud?

Cloud computing advocates I follow have debated the pros and cons of cloud computing, but most agree that enterprise adoption will happen. The debate is how fast; is it two years, five years or ten years away? The reason why is the reduced risk and complexity of development. Managers can spend budgets on competitive functionality and not on increasingly commodity infrastructure. This, I think, is a good thing. In the shorter term, cloud-based services make a lot of sense for micro- and medium-sized businesses.

When you look at the landscape of providers, you will see almost everyone in the game. Not the least of which is Mircosoft with Azure. I think we are moving toward most software vendors offering their solutions as a service and the ability of developers to "rent" virtually all levels of functionality. At Trekk, we have actively pursued this vision. Currently we purchase outside services for mapping and GIS, list processing, email management and delivery, SMS and telephony messaging, contact management and CRM. Soon, I see more fundamental things like large data storage, PDF rendering and full content management. These outsourced solutions allow us to concentrate on what we do best: design. We can rely on partners to manage scalability, availability, security and reliability. Exciting times! What do you think?

Posted by JA Stewart at 02/08/2009 09:22:04 PM |