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Tough Press Lately for Cloud Computing

There's been some tough press lately for cloud computing. Recent conferences on the topic have turned more negative as very high expectations are slow to ...

There's been some tough press lately for cloud computing. Recent conferences on the topic have turned more negative as very high expectations are slow to be met.

Computerworld Magazine described this rising frustration in a recent article which highlighted comments from the recent SaaScon conference . Here's a short excerpt:

"Cloud computing users are shifting their focus from what the cloud offers to what it lacks. What it offers is clear, such as the ability to rapidly scale and provision, but the list of what it's missing seems to be growing by the day....

Judging from interviews with individual attendees and comments made during panel discussions here at the SaaScon conference, it's clear that there's a need for industry agreements."

Meanwhile, Network World offered this debate entitled Cloud: Ready or Not? The two experts essentially agree that cloud computing technologies will become big business, but both points of view list near-term problems with cloud adoption.

For more on this topic, there are plenty of other articles listing the cloud computing challenges in 2010 and beyond. The National Association of State CIOs (NASCIO) is highlighting cloud computing in a breakout session at their mid-year conference in Baltimore with a session entitled Cloud Computing and State Government: What is the Forecast .  There are even some free webinars with public sector panelists, including yours truly, describing what they are currently doing in their state with cloud computing.  I also wrote this recent article on the topic: Is Cloud Computing More Secure ?    

But the point of this blog is that the next steps in this critical cloud debate are occurring. The conversation is heating up on many fronts and inside many different industries - including government.

Experts say that group change requires four stages: forming, storming, norming and performing . It seems to me that technology evolution often goes through similar stages. If so, we are now in the "storming" stage, in my opinion.

What are your thoughts on cloud computing?  

Daniel J. Lohrmann is an internationally recognized cybersecurity leader, technologist, keynote speaker and author.