One of the toughest battles I face these days is tying to make people understand that the “cloud” is more than just infrastructure. Modern cloud providers such as Amazon and Microsoft offer a development ecosystem. I think that this is such an important point that I want to state it again. The modern cloud is more than just server virtualization, it’s a full development ecosphere.
Now I’ve used two different terms here that are similar but distinctive. ecosystem and ecosphere. I want to describe what I mean by both. The cloud as a development ecosystem implies a set of open tools that can be used to develop solutions that extend beyond the cloud, while a development ecosphere brings to mind a closed system where a solution never leaves the cloud. Modern platforms provide both options. Large corporations can use the cloud as an extension of traditional data centers, and can and should look at using more than one provider. The ecosystem is typically associated to companies who are migrating to the cloud platforms. Companies who utilize the cloud as an ecosphere are more likely to be start-ups or smaller companies. Typically referred to as being “born in the cloud,” these companies might not have any server infrastructure outside of a cloud provider at all. Email, collaboration, and even the products they sell are fully serviced and sourced in the cloud.
What do these two sibling terms have in common? They both utilize more than just infrastructure. Data storage, messaging, file storage, security, work-flow, etc. These types of managed services that can go way beyond simple virtual servers, are what I’m referring to with both of the aforementioned terms Ecosystem and Ecosphere. Developers have an unprecedented ability to get to market with new software faster than ever before. This can be both empowering and frightening at the same time.