Don't let techno-babble cloud your judgement

摘要

It's time to face up to so-called new IT trends and recognise that they are often merely marketing terms repackaged for a new generation and far from new. In May 2010 in a public meeting in Boston, Vineet Nayar, CEO at HCL Technologies, declared "the cloud is bullshit", and I for one agree with him. Vineet said: "My view on cloud is that I always look for disruptive technologies that redefine the way the business gets run. If there is a disruptive technology out there that redefines business, I am for it. If there is no underlying technology there, and it is just repackaging a commercial solution, then I do not call it a business trend. I call it hype." The key question to ask is, is there a key underlying technology or not? There is not. There are many forms of virtualisation, establishing shared services, "everything on demand" claims and being more effective and leaving spare capacity to be sold on to others.