By: Tim Young
"Hey! You! Get off of my cloud!
Don't hang around, baby, two's a crowd."
- The Rolling Stones
If you ever needed proof that Mick Jagger was not a communications service provider CEO, you'll find it in those lyrics. It seems that every CSP wants you to consider getting onto their cloud, and there's ample evidence to suggest that enterprises and consumers are taking them up on that offer.
From the Apple iCloud to enterprise-level IaaS and managed services offerings, the push into the cloud is changing the way that end-users and device manufacturers look at data storage and processing capability. The push for cloud migration stems, in part, from and plays nicely with the explosion of agile mobile devices and the demand for ubiquitous access to OTT and hosted applications.
In this issue of Pipeline, we reach up into the cloud to examine the current slate of concerns about and opportunities related to the cloud. Our own Jesse Cryderman attempts to provide a little clarity on cloud terminology, and examines the key cloud offerings from major vendors around the world. Managing Editor Becky Bracken takes a look at the complex question of cloud data ownership and sits down with Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) to talk about the future of the cloud as we know it. In addition, I take a look at the major concerns that still make enterprise CEOs leery of the cloud, including security and reliability.
We also hear from iwireless, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Redknee (TSX:RKN) on the emergence of BSS-as–a-service. In addition, we feature CHR Solutions in our Vendor Spotlight series. And, as always, we bring you the latest in OSS/BSS news and opinion.
Enjoy. And feel free to hang around. There's plenty of room on our cloud.
Tim Young, Editor-in-Chief
