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The Public Cloud

While I was writing my article on the history of cloud computing the other week, I realized how far we have come, starting from brilliant ideas about the Internet and computing as services, to today’s world where both are commonplace.

The dream of on-demand computing where services are delivered as a utility from a plug in the wall to anyone and everywhere when they want it and how they want and paid for based on consumption, on a utility model, has been realized. Cloud computing today comes in various forms that should serve all of our needs from public cloud, private cloud, or a combination of the two, the hybrid cloud. And although for some businesses it seems the shift is toward custom clouds and privately managed services, I think the public cloud as a secure, redundant, and scalable service is what the dream was about.

I have written about public, private, and hybrid cloud before, and I have talked about what the public cloud is. What I would like to add now is what I think it means, affordable (in some cases even free) computing services to everyone, from strapped-for-cash small businesses who can now power their applications in a secure scalable way without expensive investments in hardware to entrepreneurs working on various projects intended to change the world.

So, services like Google Apps, Windows Azure Services Platform, Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), are, up to a point, performing a public service, encouraging people and businesses to innovate, build, and grow. For example, the on-demand cloud computing service the Sun Cloud, sadly not available since the spring of 2010, provided significant computing resources for the developer community for an extremely low price. And I believe this is what the public cloud is all about.

Of course, from a business point of view choosing the type of cloud is about aligning with your business priorities. Private and hybrid clouds would ensure the level of customization, control, and security a company needs, and, especially for larger companies that can absorb the costs, can seem an obvious choice. But the public cloud is all about the democratization of computing services and equal chances to all businesses, small or large, and private individuals. I think the public cloud is fulfilling the dream and creating the premises for other dreams to be achieved.

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