Executive's Guide to Cloud Computing

What is cloud computing? Is it real, or just another marketing phenomena that you should simply let run its course? These questions and more are on the minds-or should be on the minds-of senior executives and leaders at a wide range of organizations around the world.

As with any other area in which there is rapid innovation, cloud computing can seem to be nothing more than one big, jumbled, confusing tangle of ideas and opinions. Executive's Guide to Cloud Computing demystifies cloud computing and offers basic understanding and clear guidance about its realities: what it is exactly and how you can use it optimally to your organization's greatest advantage.

Here, you'll find out:

• Why you should care about cloud computing
• How to create an adoption model for the enterprise, with special comments for the startup
• Where to begin with cloud computing
• Why inevitability is . . . inevitable
• How to create cloud-enabled applications that work equally well on both private or public clouds
• Why you will re-think everything about data-the crucial currency of the new economy-in order to succeed

Complete with practical steps for planning, executing, and measuring incorporation of cloud computing in a wide variety of organizations, Executive's Guide to Cloud Computing explores why cloud computing is happening, why it will happen, and consequently, why it is well worth understanding.

About the Authors

Eric A. Marks is President and CEO of AgilePath Corporation, a Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) and Web services solutions firm. He is focused on driving executive insight, strategy, and planning, and business execution of Web services and SOA. A software and technology services veteran with seventeen years of experience with firms including PricewaterhouseCoopers, Cambridge Technology Partners, Novell, Electronic Data Systems, StreamServe, Ontos, and Square D Company/Schneider Electric, he serves on the Advisory Board of Directors for LogicLibrary, the leading software asset reuse firm, and lectures at Syracuse University's nationally recognized School of Information Studies. He is a regular columnist for Computerworld online, Managing Automation magazine, and the industry portal SearchWebServices.com.

Roberto (Bob) Lozano is chief strategist and founder of Appistry, Inc., a leading provider of cloud application platforms. An experienced entrepreneur with a history of building successful companies, Lozano founded and led PaylinX, a leader in the payment solutions market. He has also held management and technology positions with Southwestern Bell (now AT&T), Monsanto, and Sandia National Laboratories, has lectured on artificial intelligence as an adjunct faculty member at Washington University in St. Louis, and also founded Intelligent Computer Systems. He is a frequent speaker around the industry and blogs at thoughtsoncomputing.com.