| Cloud Computing is Ultimate Virtualisation |
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| July 2010 | |
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Vendors in the computer industry have been promoting Hardware Virtualisation and Cloud Computing vigorously for a few years and have succeeded in catching the attention of many people inside and outside of the computer industry. They appear as 2 bandwagons to jump onto or else people may miss the boat. Cloud Computing is an ultimate form of Virtualization. Why computer vendors release 2 bandwagons instead of 1? Do they co-exist in parallel or in series? What should school decision makers do with these 2 bandwagons in order to provide the most cost-effective information system to their organizations? Hardware Virtualisation and Cloud Computing have merits and demerits. This is good because we can take the merits and avoid the demerits. We can incorporate both into our server room (Rainforest model). A simple planning visualisation technique for managers is the matrix of 4 squares. The 1st square is “Equipment and Expertise In House”- it is the Local Rainforest. The 4th square is “Equipment and Expertise External”- it is the Cloud. The 2nd and 3rd squares have some internal and some external. This Rainforest-Cloud model helps us put things into perspective for evaluating our options. Always remember the following criteria: fitness for purpose and total cost of ownership.
We will go back to basics and establish a few direction pointers for readers in the white paper here. |