GARTNER HYPE CYCLE & CLOUD COMPUTING

I have created this post as I found this assignment to be very interesting. There are always limitations to an assignment, word count, timing, etc. Therefore, here on my blog page, I though I would add some more videos I found, images and place my full report below. I have also added some of my own thoughts about the videos, the advertising and some additional thoughts on the future. Hope you enjoy!

Online Prezi presentation is also available, search Annette Bisinella or go to: http://prezi.com/o0i99sx_zj_0/gartner-hype-cycle/

Gartner, Inc. is the world's leading information technology research and advisory company. They deliver technology-related insight necessary for their clients to make the right decisions, every day. Their clients range from CIOs and senior IT leaders in corporations and government agencies, to business leaders in high-tech and telecom enterprises and professional services firms, to technology investors (Gartner, Inc. 2012). Through the resources of Gartner Research, Gartner Executive Programs, Gartner Consulting and Gartner Events, Gartner, Inc. is able to work with every client to research, analyze and interpret the business of IT within the context of their individual role. Founded in 1979, Gartner is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.A., and has 5,000 associates, including 1,280 research analysts and consultants, and clients in 85 countries (Gartner, Inc. 2012).

Cloud computing, an emerging technology featured in the Hype Cycle is focused on below, and the key phases and development this technology has progressed through.

The Gartner Hype Cycle

The Gartner Hype Cycle is a methodology that’s been used effectively by Gartner since 1995 (Gartner, Inc. 2012). The Hype Cycle provides a graphic representation of the maturity and adoption of technologies and applications, and how they are potentially relevant to solving real business problems and exploiting new opportunities (Gartner, Inc. 2012).

The Gartner Hype Cycle methodology gives you a view of how a technology or application will evolve over time, providing insight into managing its deployment within the context of specific business goals (Gartner, Inc. 2012).

The key phases in Gartner’s Hype Cycle

Each Hype Cycle drills down into the five key phases of a technology’s life cycle (Gartner, Inc. 2012):

1. Technology trigger: A potential technology breakthrough kicks things off. Early proof-of-concept stories and media interest trigger significant publicity. Often no usable products exist and commercial viability is unproven.
2. Peak of inflated expectations: Early publicity produces a number of success stories—often accompanied by scores of failures. Some companies take action; many do not.
3. Trough of disillusionment: Interest wanes as experiments and implementations fail to deliver. Producers of the technology shake out or fail. Investments continue only if the surviving providers improve their products to the satisfaction of early adopters.
4. Slope of enlightenment: More instances of how the technology can benefit the enterprise start to crystallize and become more widely understood. Second- and third-generation products appear from technology providers. More enterprises fund pilots; conservative companies remain cautious.
5. Plateau of productivity: Mainstream adoption starts to take off. Criteria for assessing provider viability are more clearly defined. The technology’s broad market applicability and relevance are clearly paying off

Activity streams, wireless power, Internet TV, Micro Blogging, EBook Readers, 3D Printing, Speech Recognition, NFC payment and private cloud computing are some technologies that have featured on Emerging Technologies Hype Cycle by Gartner, Inc. Cloud Computing is the technology I will be focusing on in this report (Gartner, Inc. 2012).

Cloud Computing

Cloud is a style of computing where scalable and elastic IT-related capabilities are provided as a service to customers using Internet technologies. It is a computing paradigm where the boundaries of computing are determined by economic rationale rather than technical limits alone (Gartner, Inc. 2012).

Cloud services cover a spectrum, including system infrastructure (e.g., computing, storage), application infrastructure (e.g., process server, database), full applications, information services (e.g., search) and business services (e.g., order fulfillment) (Gartner, Inc. 2012).

There are three main delivery models (Gartner, Inc. 2012):

• Public cloud, where a cloud provider runs a shared-service environment accessible to any buyer. Community cloud limits access to a set of buyers (e.g., government agencies). Public and community cloud offer economies of scale, but concerns about security, privacy, trust and control limit mission-critical uses.
• Private cloud, where the enterprise has exclusive use of an isolated cloud, by implementing a cloud itself or offloading to a cloud provider's virtual private environment. Both approaches reduce elasticity and cost savings versus public cloud, but mitigate some security concerns.
• Hybrid cloud, which coordinates external cloud services and internal resources (either private cloud or traditional infrastructure) to assemble a solution. For example, a cloudbursting approach could dynamically extend a private cloud to a public cloud for extra capacity. Hybrid cloud needs careful planning.

All forms of cloud computing change the way that businesses consume, manage and price IT, requiring new mind-sets and relationships between IT and the business (Gartner, Inc. 2012).

One of the first movers in cloud computing was Salesforce.com, which in 1999 introduced the concept of delivering enterprise applications via a simple website (Mohamed, 2009). Amazon was next on the bandwagon, launching Amazon Web Service in 2002. Then came Google Docs in 2006 which really brought cloud computing to the forefront of public consciousness. 2006 also saw the introduction of Amazon’s Elastic Compute cloud (EC2) as a commercial web service that allowed small companies and individuals to rent computers on which to run their own computer applications (Biswas, 2011).

This was soon followed by an industry-wide collaboration in 2007 between Google, IBM and a number of universities across the United States (Mohamed, 2009).

As this media attention and early break through begins, we see Cloud Computing first appear on Gartner Inc 2008 Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, as part of the Technology Trigger phase.

As cloud computing proves to be self-sustaining, 2009 saw Microsoft’s enters the market with the launch of Windows Azure (Gartner, Inc. 2012). Suddenly, there were major players jumping on to cloud computing from left, right and center. This is why we see Cloud Computing shift from Trigger Technology phase to Peak of Inflated Expectations phase of 2009 Hype Cycle of Emerging Technologies

As the hype of cloud computing continues, we see Cloud web platforms and Private Cloud Computing appear on the 2010 Hype Cycle of Emerging Technologies. Still in the Peak of Inflated Expectations phase, main runners Google, Microsoft, IBM, Amazon and salesforce.com begin to invest in the creation of web platforms and private cloud to improve their products and begin offering live and trial versions to clients (Babcock, 2010). Negative press also begins to revolve around Cloud, questions regarding its sustainability and security features cause Cloud Computing the drop towards Trough of Disillusionment (Gartner, Inc. 2012).

These are some videos that show examples of Cloud Security. You will see there is difference in technique of advertising.

On the 2011 Hype Cycle of Emerging Technologies (also current Hype Cycle used for 2012), you can see cloud web platforms has crept past the Peak of Inflated Expectations and is making its way down the curve towards the Slope of Enlightenment. In other words, cloud computing is about to explode. Cloud platforms are often the very first thing to be added to any businesses. This is how they gain the insight and motivation to explore other cloud avenues.  In other words, once an organization begins to see the effectiveness of using certain web-based applications / websites to both, promote their goods/services via social media as well as help further analyze important data (for decision making events), they often decide to jump into cloud computing head first (Gartner, Inc. 2012).  It should be noted that in the businesses world, those who “get there first” stand to make the largest profit, and for many serious businesses, getting into cloud computing may help turn their fairly successful mid-level organizations into the powerful empires of the future (Gartner, Inc. 2012).

Here are some video's of the leading investors mentioned above, advertising Cloud Computing........

IBM CLOUD SOLUTIONS - BARI FISHING INDUSTRY

GOOGLE DOCS

AMAZON CLOUD PLAYER

WINDOWS 7 - TO THE CLOUD

These videos really captured my interest in Cloud Computing. Like the cloud player, a fustration we all share with IPods, IPhones, IPads, not being able to switch computers and load all of our movies and music onto them. This is a fantastic feature one I have never heard of before, and will now be looking into.

Windows really has had some issues in media with some previous versions fustrating users, and alot of customers switching to Apple. I think this is brilliant way for Windows to go! Their focus is on businesses, and the way that is portayed is as if the business is a multi national company. However you soon see they are only a small coffee shop. They are really reaching out to all markets of the business world, and I thought in a 30 second ad, really got a million ideas and thoughts across to me.

Google Docs is a great idea, but when compared to some of the other ads, it doesnt get you as excited. In my mind, I felt as though showing me simple things such a "new ability to scroll through pages" meant there still may be more work to be done, and the previous version may not have been so user friendly.

My very favourite is the bari fishing industry. Immediatly you think, if a fishing industry can improve that much, then so can my business! The amazing part is that they are able to use Cloud Computing out in the ocean without any difficulties as well. Seeing as though most of us struggle for phone reception in our homes!

Future of Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is a disruptive force. The impact will be huge for IT vendors. As new business models evolve and become the province of not just consumer markets, much will change (Gartner, Inc. 2012). Futurologist Dr James Bellini says that “A company’s most valuable resource will be its connected eco-system. We’ll probably have at least 80pc of employees based outside an organisation. In the UK today there are already four million free agent workers and that’s set to grow considerably. Businesses that don’t change their model and move to this ecosystem approach simply won’t survive” (Telegraph, 2011).

John Jester, general manager for Microsoft’s UK Enterprise and Partner Group, made the point that client motivations for moving to cloud computing have changed over the past 18 months. “When the cloud first came to market a couple of years ago the first thing that came to mind was cost and efficiencies but now the priority is that it offers new capabilities,” he said. “Around 70-80 per cent of overall IT spend goes on running the IT infrastructure,” he added. “The cloud offers an opportunity to bring that down. That’s where it gets to be really exciting; new ways to drive collaboration internally” (Telegraph, 2011).

According to a recent Carbon Disclosure Project report, companies that streamline operations to improve IT performance will not only reduce capital expenditures but they’ll shrink energy consumption and carbon emissions. The group estimated that, by 2020, U.S. organizations that move to the cloud could save $12.3 billion in energy costs and the equivalent of 200 million barrels of oil (Cantu, 2011).

One other factor that’s driving demand for cloud computing is the explosive growth of data. According to projections by Century Link, by 2015, the world will see a four-fold increase in the amount of data being created and replicated. And once all of that data comes into being, you need a way to store it all securely and allow end-users to access it efficiently (Cantu, 2011).

And that demand is driving cloud in the future.

THIS IS IBM REINFORCING BUSINESS GROWTH THROUGH CLOUD AND POSSIBILITIES OF BUSINESSES BEING LEFT BEHIND IF THEY DONT USE CLOUD

THIS IS IBM TAKE ON THE FUTURE OF CLOUD COMPUTING

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT....

Watch this video below and then think, if we all expect our lives to become easier through technology and innovation, like in the video your about to watch. Then it can only be true that if businesses, schools, transport, do not keep up and grow with new emerging technologies then they will be left behind.
If Ballarat University does not continue to update its course work,  computers, facilities, then students will not apply for courses there. They will choose a uni that can ensure they are supplying the best up to date education possible that they need for the future.
If business is not able to keep up same technology as rest of market place, they will eventually shut down. People will lose their jobs. They will not be able to fulfil the demand requirments efficiently as other businesses would. Their costs would eb higher and therefore profits less.

Then to take another step back and think, it makes sense that those who adpot these new technologies early will be gaining larger piece of the market place, better trust and image with consumers, larger profits earlier and more experience. It will be harder for those businesses who adopt the technology later to keep up and be able to provide competitive price.

In studying a Bachelor of Business I thought this was valuable information, even if Cloud computing fails, the way technology can evolve and seeing how others have like IPad on hype cycle, has proven that emerging technology is important for our future. And even more important when your wanting to build a business in the future. We need to keep an eye on these, as they can shape our future and daily lives.

References

Babcock, C. (2010) Cloud Ready For App Development in 2010, Retrieved May 16, 2012 from http://www.informationweek.com/news/cloud-computing/software/222200177

Biswas, A. (2011) A history of cloud computing, Retrieved May 14, 2012 from http://www.cloudtweaks.com/2011/02/a-history-of-cloud-computing/

Cantu, A. (2011). The History and Future of Cloud Computing, Retrieved May 17, 2012 from http://www.forbes.com/sites/dell/2011/12/20/the-history-and-future-of-cloud-computing/2/

Gartner, Inc. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.gartner.com/technology/home.jsp

Mohamed, A. (2009). A history of cloud computing, Retrieved May 14, 2012 from http://www.computerweekly.com/feature/A-history-of-cloud-computing

Telegraph (2011). In the future cloud computing will be the only choice, Retrieved May 17, 2012 from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/technology/microsoft-cloud-computing/8667512/In-the-future-Cloud-Computing-will-be-the-only-choice.html