"Cloud or the concept of ‘Data Center-centric' computing is going to be around for a long time," stated Rick German, Co-founder, CEO and Chief Technology Officer of Stoneware, in this exclusive Q&A with Cloud Expo Conference Chair Jeremy Geelan. "We might tire of the word ‘cloud,'" he continued, "however, the need to shift from a client-centric delivery model to a centralized model cannot be avoided."

Cloud Computing Journal: A very general question first, about Cloud Computing itself: Surely we've heard all of this before in various forms and guises - grid computing / utility computing, etc.? What is different this time - why is everyone so convinced it will now work?

Rick German: Cloud computing describes the shift from a client-centric computing model to a data-centric computing model. Applications, data, services are moving into the data center whether they can be locally or publicly hosted for the end user. This transition is as much about the change in client technologies as it is about utility computing, grid, and other cloud buzzwords. The explosion in the "sub-netbook" device market has created a new category of devices from smartphones to netbooks and pads that are typically unmanaged, personal in nature, and running a variety of local operating systems. The centralized, hosted nature of cloud computing has created a platform from which applications and services can be delivered independent of the device. The rapidly changing device market almost ensures that cloud computing will be the next compute model.

Cloud Computing Journal: What are the three main factors driving companies toward the Cloud?

German: The three main factors are:

1. Device - growing need to reduce interactions with the end point due to complexity, cost, and mobility
2. Management - centralized management of applications and service for scalability and economic efficiencies
3. Complexity - allows IT to reduce complexity of their IT environment by allowing certain applications or services to move into the cloud, possibly managed or maintained by a third party

Cloud Computing Journal: And what are the three main barriers preventing some companies from moving some of the on-premise computing to the Cloud?

German: The three main barriers are:

1. Security/Compliance Issues
2. Politics
3. Control

Cloud Computing Journal: How does your own company's offering/s assist CIOs and organizations/companies?

German: Stoneware's webNetwork is an on-premise, hybrid cloud solution. It allows organizations to decide which applications and services are best served from the organization's own data center while allowing other hosted (SaaS) applications to seamlessly integrate into the private cloud. It is not an "all or none" proposition. A hybrid approach allows organizations to move at their own pace, selectively choosing which applications and services are best hosted internally and which ones are best consumed from the public cloud.

Cloud Computing Journal: Are there other players in the Cloud ecosystem offering the same - or is your company unique? Why?

German: Stoneware's hybrid cloud computing is unique in that it does not take the "one size fits all" approach to cloud computing. Stoneware's Intelligent Application Delivery model understands the user's context (i.e., their rights, network connectivity, and device capabilities) and allows the webNetwork cloud to determine the best cloud delivery method. This is a new concept in cloud computing. The cloud can change its methodology in delivering services to optimize performance, experience, or reduce licensing costs.

Cloud Computing Journal: We hear talk of a Cloud Revolution and also of a Cloud "evolution" - either way, what kind of time span are we talking about, do you think. In other words, for how long is Cloud Computing going to exert its pull on the minds, hearts, and budgets of all involved in modern-day Enterprise IT?

German: Cloud or the concept of ‘Data Center-centric' computing is going to be around for a long time. We might tire of the word "cloud"; however, the need to shift from a client-centric delivery model to a centralized model cannot be avoided. We are actually circling back to something somewhat familiar - mainframe and dumb terminals. Today virtualized services replace the mainframe while the web browser becomes the new "dumb terminal."

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Join Rick German at his session - Why Windows Will Not Be the Desktop of Cloud Computing - at Cloud Expo 2011 New York, June 6-9, held at the Javits Center in New York City.