Appistry Session at Cloud Expo

Appistry, a pioneer in enterprise cloud application platforms, believes reality will set in for the cloud computing market in 2010.

The company says 2010 will see more real applications deployed in the cloud and more traditional IT failures incorrectly attributed to the cloud, in addition to the first massive, public cloud security breach.

Members of Appistry’s leadership team discussed this and other key issues shaping cloud computing in its second annual “Appistry Predicts” roundtable webinar held on December 16, 2009.

According to Appistry, the following cloud computing predictions will play out in 2010:

1.   Market Disruptions will Accelerate into 2010. Just as the recession provided fertile ground in which cloud computing could take root, the rebounding economy in 2010 will provide the nutrient—end-user investment—that cloud needs to grow. The influx of buyers will put increasing pressure on infrastructure price points, accelerating the “race to zero.” Within the enterprise, IT acquisition models begin to shift, especially around software and support, demanding that vendors align prices and pricing models against a new time constant, the hour.

2.   Like the ’80s Sitcom, Cloud will Experience “Growing Pains.” Increasing cloud adoption in 2010, while a fantastic thing for consumers, businesses and the industry at large, puts growing pressure on provider processes and systems. The public clouds, now the home to more and more “real” applications, become a bigger target for hackers, and “one lucky hacker” gets in. Reality sets in and has a bit of a chilling effect, but adoption continues unabated, with consumers largely inoculated by a series of highly visible provider mistakes labeled as cloud failures.

3.   2010 will be the Year of the PaaS. Technology advances, the drive towards increased automation and abstraction, and the commoditization of infrastructure, cement the central role of the platform layer in the cloud stack. End-user awareness and understanding about platform offerings will grow markedly. Expect several high-profile acquisitions as traditional middleware and systems management vendors seek to future-proof their portfolios.

4.   The Cloud will Shape Data, and Data will Shape the Cloud. The ubiquity of highly distributed cloud-like infrastructures, coupled with heightened expectations around application scalability, elasticity and robustness lead to increasing enterprise adoption of non-traditional approaches to data access and storage. Enterprise adoption of “NoSQL” data stores jumps in 2010, and the technology begins to work its way into the mainstream.

5.   It will be a Put-Up or Shut-Up Year for Tech Firms as a Bubble Looms. In 2009 we have seen firms from all corners of the IT arena rush to “cloudwash” their offerings, in part as a result of inflated valuations in the space. For start-ups, inflated valuations means easier access to cash. For larger public companies, stock price becomes a strategic weapon. 2010 will be a decisive year for the cloud economy, in which it becomes clear whether these valuations are warranted by growth prospects, or whether there is a bubble on the horizon.