Virtualization and Cloud executives share their predictions for 2014. Read them in this VMblog.com series exclusive.
Contributed article by Anders Wallgren, Chief Technologist, Electric Cloud
Delivering Applications for Tomorrow’s Enterprise Cloud
It's no doubt that cloud has moved into the enterprise mainstream. As the world we live in becomes more
connected through cloud and mobility, 2014 will be the year that organizations start
to transform their business through the cloud. While CIOs once looked at the
cloud as a way to reduce costs, many will now turn their attention to achieving
real business benefits through the cloud.
Industry analyst firm,
Gartner expects, "80 percent of organizations said
that they intend to use cloud services in some form within 12 months, including
55 percent of the organizations not doing so today."
To prepare for the changes ahead, IT organizations will need to begin
evaluating their application delivery processes to a model that positions the
team to continuously deliver software and relevant updates. In this new model, the introduction of new
technology and changes in user experience demands will fundamentally shift the
role of development teams.
Always-on Cloud Services Requires a Movement Beyond Agile to
Continuous Delivery
Agile has brought development and operations teams closer
together, but as the business continues to usher in their own mobile devices
and apps, the demand for continuous services in the cloud or in a hybrid-cloud will
require an even closer alignment between development, operations and the
business. This new delivery model requires IT teams and the business to collaborate
repeatedly and often so that quality applications can be continuously delivered.
The Complexity of the Connected World Will Trump Any Traditional
Development Model
By 2016, traffic on the Internet will be hitting 1.3
zettabytes. That is 1.3, followed by 21
zeros-or 1 trillion gigabytes-a massive amount of data coursing through the Internet. Developers are facing a cliff of pressure to deal
with the data that will be coming through the cloud, and being able to update
bugs quickly and efficiently. The cloud
will provide an opportunity for development teams to work closely with IT
security and business stakeholders to continuous delivery updates, implement
new compliance mandates and to protect the business from any breaches in the
complex world.
Dynamic Cloud Applications Will Drive Rich Interactions With
Customers and Developers
Users of applications are interacting with businesses unlike
before. With technologies like HTML5
coming into the mainstream, apps will be designed to deliver a rich and interactive
experience to the users. The need for
instant application updates is paramount to keeping customers, or end-users
engaged.
This can be challenge in the enterprise environment, as different
parts of the application can be in different places. For example, a presentation
layer might be on Facebook, the storage could be on Amazon.com's S3, and
application logic could run somewhere else.
Designing
for the continuous delivery of applications to the cloud will require more than
just thinking about build. It will
demand an innovative approach that further develops upon the continuous
integration processes to one that allows for instant-delivery and
responsiveness. Developers, as a result,
will be closer to the feedback loop with end-users and can responsively jump in
to address changes.
The
market potential for the cloud remains a big opportunity for enterprises. As
organizations continue to move up the cloud value chain, from infrastructure
services to business process services, business stakeholders, development and
operations teams will start to collaborate more frequently. The way
organizations deliver applications today is often thought of as old, and
out-of-date. As the cloud moves into the
mainstream enterprise, organizations have an opportunity to challenge the
status quo and stay ahead of the competition.
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About the Author
Anders Wallgren is Chief
Technical Officer of Electric Cloud. Anders brings with him over 15 years of
in-depth experience designing and building commercial software. Prior to
joining Electric Cloud, Anders held executive positions at Aceva, Archistra,
and Impresse. Anders also held management positions at Macromedia (MACR),
Common Ground Software and Verity (VRTY), where he played critical technical
leadership roles in delivering award winning technologies such as Macromedia's
Director 7 and various Shockwave products.
Anders
holds a B.SC from MIT.