This panel discussion, moderated by Rafe Needleman of CNET, brought together six founders and executives from the cloud computing world:
- Ken Comee, CEO Cast Iron Systems
- Monica Lam, Co-Fouder and Chief Scientist, MokaFive
- Juan Carlos Soto, VP Sun Microsystems
- Chip Hazard, General Partner, Flybridge Capital Partners
- Michael Stein, CEO Darkstrand
- Michael Peachey, Chief Architect & Dir. Engineering-Cloud Computing, TIBCO
The concept of an “internal” (private/enterprise) cloud was broached and contrasted to the more conventional notion of a public, internet-attached cloud environment. The cloud service provide industry is deploying virtual private clouds to create these, tailored towards vertical markets with particular requirements. For example, health-care providers may utilize HIPPA compliant clouds. Needleman posed the question, “where do cloud providers fail? What are the pitfalls?”. Comee cited interoperability problems between vendors; Hazard cited bandwidth in and out of some clouds as an issue in certain applications, e.g. online backup and data protection services. He also pointed out that cloud businesses can be very expensive to build to cash flow break even, so it can be capital intensive. Peachey also cited slow growth in certain cloud businesses, because small businesses selling subscription services require time to build out their customer base and transition to a new paradigm for applications.
An audience member questioned the panel about the impact of security concerns on the growth of the cloud computing market. The recent theft of Corporate Twitter documents was discussed as an example of what can happen when data is stored on servers. Hazard pointed out that this has been an issue with all phases of growth in the computing business. Soto cited it as the #1 issue limiting early adoption of cloud services by enterprise users.