More Cloud Computing on the Horizon

EMC Corp. announced it is acquiring Seattle-based Pi, Corp. a privately-held developer of software and provider of services for personal information management, and will be installing Pi's CEO as head of its cloud computing division. In other cloud computing news, Xcerion AB released its naming and plans for its cloud computing platform.

Focal Points:

• EMC stated it was purchasing for cash Pi Corp., which is beta-testing its initial software, for an undisclosed sum. Pi's first product is designed to help people "find, access, share, and protect" their personal digital information. The company has approximately 100 engineers in Canada, India, and the U.S. Upon completion of the acquisition, Pi founder and CEO Paul Maritz, will join EMC's executive management team as President and General Manager of the newly formed Cloud Infrastructure and Services Division. He will report into Joe Tucci, EMC CEO and President. Maritz will continue to directly oversee development and operations for Pi, along with other key elements of EMC's cloud computing strategy, which include the EMC Fortress infrastructure, the Mozy online backup service and other upcoming EMC cloud infrastructure systems and software offerings under development. Pi will operate as an independent subsidiary of EMC.
• Joe Tucci said the proliferation of information in the hands of consumers, businesses and organizations of all sizes has brought about massive digital information growth on a scale never imagined. He further stated EMC is well positioned to set a new standard for organizing, accessing and deriving value from this information and that Pi's technology is very complementary to EMC's cloud infrastructure strategy. Paul Maritz, a former senior executive at Microsoft Corp., will provide leadership and vision as EMC positions itself at the leading edge of cloud computing and personal information management, officials said.
• Xcerion, an online software developer based in Sweden, announced its "Icloud" platform as a service offering, an XML-based "Cloud OS" service based on Xcerion's XML Internet Operating System/3 (XIOS/3). Icloud aims to replicate the local desktop computing experience from within a Web browser using an XML-based architecture. Unlike other Web operating systems that run applications on remote servers, Icloud relies on an XML virtual machine for local (and offline) operation. It thus combines the advantages of remote computing – a central point for software distribution, storage, and updates – with the advantages of local computing – execution speed and user control without a bandwidth bottleneck. Icloud provides a new technology called "gesture-based computing" that is essentially real-time content sharing. It allows users to drag and drop documents from their computer to another's computer in real time, as if the two machines were dual monitors powered by a single computer. Hence one can show an already opened application, document, e-mail, music, or photo to a buddy or co-worker in real time instead of actually e-mailing the same.

Experton Group believes cloud computing or platform as a service (PaaS) offerings is the new hot trend in computing for 2008, but whose promise will not be realized within the next two years. This will occur because it takes time for the technology to mature and users to appreciate its value proposition. (See EXPERTON GROUP Research Note "Platforms as a Service.") EMC's aggressive pursuit of PaaS should enable the company to gain market share in the consumer and SMB markets, where it has little direct presence. PaaS technology, like service-oriented architecture (SOA), will reshape how people think about how, what, and where processing needs to be performed. Xcerion's offering remains a promise but its concepts will become a reality whether or not the company is the one to bring it forward.

IT executives and their architects need to understand the limitations and value of these offerings over the next five years and incorporate these concepts into their architectures and implementations.