I just read a brief article on the Cloud Communications Alliance, which claims to be driving:
development and adoption of the first nationwide high-definition enterprise voice and data network in the IP “cloud.”
Seriously?!? I get what they’re doing, and good for them. But, personally, I think to claim that it has anything to do with “cloud” is an abusive use of the term.
Just because a service is delivered over an IP network doesn’t make it a “cloud” service. I’ll admit that Cloud is more about a service paradigm than any specific technology, being a shared, metered, scalable & elastic, “as a service” offering. But the term is traditionally applied to core IT services such as Infrastructure, Platform, and Software services.
If we accept the term in other fringe contexts then it loses meaning. I.e. SIP phone service, multi-player video games, iTunes. I see how these fit the Cloud service paradigm, and how it could be argued that they fit a SaaS approach, but they’re not IT services per se. They’re services that use IT to deliver a non-IT product. So if you’re a marketing person responsible for these sort of products, please resist the urge to chase the Cloud bandwagon. Be honest with yourself about what you’re selling, and find a clever way to present it instead of cheating with the “cloud” term.
