Cloud computing is here to stay. The specific roadmap for the
technology might be still unclear, but the fundamental economic and
business forces that shape the computing industry point to a logical
conclusion: many computing applications are general-purpose in
nature, and therefore offer tremendous economies of scale if their
supply can be consolidated. While the researchers and practitioners in
the computer science community are making rapid strides in realizing
this conclusion in technological terms, we believe that an equally
important discussion needs to start from a business perspective. In
this article we have tried to identify the different issues that will affect
the various stakeholders in this radically different computing
paradigm. In the process, we have attempted to come up with a set
of recommendations for businesses and academics alike, with a
passionate call to the latter community to start researching proactively
in the issues that will affect the various stakeholders. Unlike
some of the previous waves in computing, cloud computing also
demands a thoughtful and coordinated response from governmental
agencies, and we have listed down some of the key issues in this
respect.
The famous physicist Niels Bohr once said, “Prediction is very
difficult, especially about the future.” The fluid and uncertain
environment that surrounds cloud computing – be it in terms of the
technology, its adoption, the industry structure or the regulatory
regime that will eventually need to be in place – makes such an
exercise that much more difficult. We however hope that our attempt
to look at the phenomenon through a business perspective reduces
some of the uncertainty surrounding the phenomenon, and more
importantly jumpstarts the discussions on the various issues that we
have identified.