Cloud computing – what is it and what can it do for my business?

Cloud computing – what is it and what can it do for my business?
First in a series of regional events
Organised by the Digital Communications and the Digital Systems Knowledge Transfer Networks in partnership with IP-City Network

Venue - Adastral Park at the invitation of BT
20 May 2010, 12:30 pm

Attendance is free - please visit Register to reserve your place.

Cloud computing has become a subject of increasing interest over the last few years but what exactly is ‘Cloud’ and what does it mean for business both now and in the longer term?

This event gives you the opportunity to hear experts describe exactly what is meant by ‘Cloud Computing’, to hear from businesses already using cloud services and gaining benefits, to quiz an expert panel and to workshop with other business people. This will help you to find out what the advantages and drawbacks are of commitment to the use of Cloud computing.

Whether provider or potential user of these emerging technologies and services, we would very much welcome your involvement and views and we believe that you could contribute greatly to the success of the event. At the same time, this provides you with the opportunity to voice your questions and opinions and to shape the future of Cloud computing to meet the needs of your business.

BACKGROUND

The history of computing has seen a number of large shifts in overall architecture, not the least of which was the general movement from the mainframe installations of the 60s and 70s to client-server systems based around the now ubiquitous PC.  This change saw terminals change from dumb ‘slaves’ to high-powered computing engines running, in the main, licensed versions of complex software packages.  This balance has been changing subtly over the last ten years as the Internet and business Intranets have developed to the point where data is increasingly stored in the server rather than the terminal and sharing and collaboration are becoming familiar concepts.  This change has perhaps been most marked in the consumer space where 73% of people now feel that broadband is as important a utility as electricity or water and remote storage of photographs and email as well as social networking are now common place.

Businesses are now seeing value in migration back to the use of relatively dumb terminals but there is a difference at the ‘back-end’.  Increasingly data storage and processing are no longer carried out in computers or computer-centres owned by a business but in centres provided by managed service providers.  In such centres economies of scale are produced by ‘virtualising’ processing power and storage in such a way that an individual’s or a business processing capability may be mounted in infrastructure shared by others and even migrated across hardware boundaries invisibly to the user.  It is only a small step, then, to the concept of Cloud Computing, where data storage and processing power are procured flexibly on-demand from a service provider and the user may have no idea exactly where the facilities that he or she is using are situated.

Already a vocabulary is developing to describe Cloud services.  Providers distinguish between Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS) while network providers emphasize the importance of network connectivity and performance when utilizing remote services.  The concept of cheap computing power available on-tap is attractive yet concerns have been expressed about resilience, security, potential lock-in to providers, legal problems concerning location of data and many other aspects of Cloud Computing.

THE FORUM

This forum provides business users with the opportunity to hear about Cloud Computing, its technical and commercial architectures, service offerings, current providers and likely developments. Our presenters will set out their view of Cloud technology and services; participants will then be invited to join the debate to help to formulate a view of the future landscape of services by means of panel Q&A and plenary discussion.  The event will also give delegates the opportunity to air their concerns about Cloud and to discuss with one-another and the expert panel how these matters can be mitigated as well as how business can benefit from the economies of scale and new service concepts that Cloud can provide.

The information recorded from this event will be combined with output from other regions and will be used to inform the industry debate on the technologies, architectures and industry structures needed to deliver future services.
 
Cloud computing – what is it and what can it do for my business?
Organised by the Digital Communications and the Digital Systems Knowledge Transfer Networks in partnership with IP-City Network

Venue - Adastral Park at the invitation of BT
20 May 2010, 12:30 pm

Chaired by Philip Hargrave, Director of the Digital Communications Knowledge Transfer Network

Agenda

12:30-12:45 Registration
12:45-13:15 Lunch and networking
13:15-13:25 Introduction | Opening remarks from the Chair
13:25-14:05 Keynote Address | An overview of a Cloud system, how and where data may be stored and processing may be carried out and a review of the different service levels that may be offered | Ian Osborne, Director of the Digital Systems Knowledge Transfer Network
14:05-14.35 Who’s Who in ‘Cloud’? | A review of existing and near-future Cloud service providers and the products that they offer | Speaker TBA
14:35-15.00 What can ‘Cloud’ do for me? | Case studies of the use of ‘Cloud’ in real business scenarios
15:00-15:20 Refreshments
15:20-15:50  Q&A panel session with the speakers | Moderator: Ian Osborne
15.50-16.20 How do I get involved? | Plenary discussion session for delegates & speakers
16:20-16:30 Closing remarks from the Chair

Attendance is free - please visit Register to reserve your place.