Cloud computing.
Over the last several years, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, AT&T and many others have started offering cloud capabilities. There is lots of discussion about the merits of the cloud with individual IT professionals on both sides. Small and mid-sized companies have been quick to embrace it. Start-ups in particular find it a great way to ramp up quickly and cheaply. F500 companies are not so sure. They have a huge investment in their existing IT infrastructure that the cloud has the potential to render obsolete.
Nicholas Carr, who is not the most popular person in the IT community, makes a compelling case that the computing cloud will make the traditional IT infrastructure obsolete. In his new book, The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google (W. W. Norton, 2008), he states, "In the end, the savings offered by utilities become too compelling to resist, even for the largest enterprises. The grid wins."
If Carr is correct, and I believe he will be, IT companies that embrace the cloud will be winners while those that cling to the older models will lose. This will this include companies that supply servers, storage, communications, middle-ware, and other infrastructure components. In addition, it will also include companies that supply applications. It will no longer be enough to sell software that can be installed an operated on a corporate server. Successful companies need to sell the software as a service either directly or through a partner.
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