Xconomy’s Cloud Computing Extravaganza

As a follow-up to my post on Cloud Computing and Law Firms, I ran across the materials for a recent conference on cloud computing from Xconomy: Notes From Xconomy’s Cloud Computing Extravaganza. They have also posted the slides from conference:

• IBM executive Irving Wladawsky-Berger spoke on Cloud Computing: The Coming IT Cambrian Explosion
  Slideshow
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• Sun Microsystems VP Rich Zippel
  Project Caroline
  
• Microsoft’s Scott Jamison
  Microsoft Software + Services slides

Says Irving Wladawsky-Berger:

"Nicholas Carr nicely framed the historical shift to cloud computing in his keynote, which was based on his recent book, The Big Switch. Carr first talked about the evolution of power plants in the 19th century. In the early days, companies usually generated their own power with steam engines and dynamos. But with the rise of highly sophisticated, professionally run electric utilities, companies stopped generating their own power and plugged into the newly built electric grid.

IT, said Carr, is the next great technology that is going through a similar transformation. Many IT capabilities, now handled in a distributed way, will be centralized in highly industrialized, efficient, scalable data centers—Clouds—which should free companies to invest in innovation where it really matters to their business. Nick acknowledged that IT clouds are quite different in nature from electricity—more complex and diverse in the services they offer. So it is too early to tell how IT clouds will evolve."

Thanks to Lee Gesmer of MassLawBlog for his story:  Cloud Computing - The “Next Big Thing”?