Cloud Computing Expo

A “power panel” composed of Stoneware Co-founder, CEO and Rick German, M-Dot Network CTO Mike Kavis, GoGrid CEO and Co-Founder of John Keagy, and Altor Networks Director of Product Management Todd Ignasiak gathered at the 4th International Cloud Computing Expo held at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA,.

Among key issues discussed were security in the cloud, the future of virtualization, On Demand cloud computing, and whether automation may be the next buzz word.

“Security is the incumbent cry you hear from the CIO trying to defend his job,” Keagy said.

Panelists agreed that while security posed as one of the major challenges in the cloud, the same issue also enables companies to zero in on specific security requirements and forces them to rethink traditional data centers.

German also pointed out the need “to describe what a cloud looks like.”

“We’re describing a lot of the underlying technologies but what is the user interface when users interact with the cloud?”

Panelists also agreed that the term “virtualization” will likely fade into the background as automation becomes a higher priority. Ignasiak placed emphasis on how automation by nature carries “tremendous amounts of power and efficiency” and enables businesses to do all the right things, including implementing security

The session ended with a question on what 2010 may look like for cloud computing.

“The funds to do things the old way is not there,” German said. “It’s going to spur a lot of innovation and new ways of delivering IT resources.”

Kavis, who at the beginning of the session introduced his start-up company as a user of cloud computing technologies and one who can offer a practitioner’s point of view, predicted that while some large corporations are slow to adapt to cloud practices, small companies are going to “blow the doors of big companies.”

Keagy predicted that the IT economy will shrink from a trillion dollar to a 500 billion industry in the next few decades.

“The dream of utility computing is here. Everything for business is going to get easier,” Keagy said. “I believe this moment right here is the peak."