Joe McKendrick rose a good topic in a recent post: Do we need cloud oriented architecture? ZapThink’s Ron Schmelzer has been wondering where architecture fits in among all the cloud talk out there. With lots of other topics such as cloud security, cloud interoperability and more, it’s a wonder the topic of cloud architecture hasn’t been more widely talked about online.
Ron says, “The discussion of architecture has been given short shrift in cloud computing conversation.” The main focus on cloud computing has been around the infrastructure rather than the architecture specifically. “When the ‘architecture’ team meets these cloud providers, what problems are they aiming to solve? Business problems?” he asks. “Certainly not…Where’s the business in all this? The answer: nowhere.”
I can say that cloud architecture has come up in many cloud computing event discussion such as those at CloudCamp events and our monthly Indy Cloud Users meetings right here in Indianapolis, but there hasn’t been much press, writing or online discussions regarding the topic.
When you’re in a do-it-yourself type of environment such as Amazon EC2 it’s a very important aspect of cloud computing and some companies have found great success in developing the right architecture such as our friends at ShareThis in Cincinnati. The good thing about going to a full-service cloud provider such as BlueLock is that we have a team who architects the environment for you based on your applications and needs. However, when it comes to architecting the application itself, now that’s another conversation.
There’s a lot that cloud architecture could cover – from the infrastructure architecture to the application architecture. But one thing is for sure – both have to be engineered in a way that can fully optimize the cloud environment. A poorly constructed application will never fully realize the benefits of an impeccably architected infrastructure and vice versa.
Ron says, “The discussion of architecture has been given short shrift in cloud computing conversation.” The main focus on cloud computing has been around the infrastructure rather than the architecture specifically. “When the ‘architecture’ team meets these cloud providers, what problems are they aiming to solve? Business problems?” he asks. “Certainly not…Where’s the business in all this? The answer: nowhere.”
I can say that cloud architecture has come up in many cloud computing event discussion such as those at CloudCamp events and our monthly Indy Cloud Users meetings right here in Indianapolis, but there hasn’t been much press, writing or online discussions regarding the topic.
When you’re in a do-it-yourself type of environment such as Amazon EC2 it’s a very important aspect of cloud computing and some companies have found great success in developing the right architecture such as our friends at ShareThis in Cincinnati. The good thing about going to a full-service cloud provider such as BlueLock is that we have a team who architects the environment for you based on your applications and needs. However, when it comes to architecting the application itself, now that’s another conversation.
There’s a lot that cloud architecture could cover – from the infrastructure architecture to the application architecture. But one thing is for sure – both have to be engineered in a way that can fully optimize the cloud environment. A poorly constructed application will never fully realize the benefits of an impeccably architected infrastructure and vice versa.
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