Cloud computing is largely misunderstood, both as a concept but also in what it delivers, or is capable of delivering. In fact, the cloud is as big as the e-business/e-commerce revolution witnessed as the start of this millennium. Like then it will take some time to sort out as every technology supplier and vendor now use the term “cloud” in marketing material to make sure they appear relevant. In reality in will be at least the next decade (2010-20) that organisations will start using cloud computing as the norm for their operations. In the meantime this is a good time to look at some of the myths that have build up around cloud computing.

Myth 1: The bigger the vendor, the better

Reality Check: The presence of industry titans such as Amazon.com, Salesforce.com, Microsoft Azure and Google is certainly enhancing the profile of cloud computing especially among large enterprises like the Telegraph Media Group. But size and brand-name power amount to very little if a vendor can’t deliver quality of service. Thomas Bittman, chief of research for Gartner’s infrastructure and operations branch, said, “Being big in the future of cloud may not be a benefit.” Take, for example, Amazon.com whose Amazon S3 cloud experienced an outage for about three hours, in 2008 leaving companies worldwide without access to their stored data. Likewise, Google Gmail and its application service platform were badly disrupted globally in February 2009. However, Gmail didn't collapse completely, while web access to email was shut down, IMAP accounts, the sort that you might use on an iPhone, were operating normally which should be seen as a plus for a always on 24/7 cloud platform.The point here is to carefully consider your options and do your homework before signing on the dotted line. When your life blood is your data then carrying out a full risk assessment is crucial to your success wherever you decide to host your computing systems.

Myth 2: Cloud computing heralds a revolution

Reality Check: Vendors’ public relations people would have you believe that cloud computing is a revolutionary new technology. But the truth of the matter is, companies have been heading in the direction of this pay-per-service model for some time now with products like Salesforce.com for Customer Relationship Management and web site hosting by data centre providers. Cloud computing is a natural evolution of infrastructure and application technologies. SaaS (Software-as-a-Service), for example, is a type of cloud computing that delivers a single application through a web-based browser to thousands of end users. The well-known concept of utility computing also falls under the umbrella of cloud computing, as do managed services that often entail fully outsourced network-management arrangements.

Myth 3: Only small businesses need apply

Reality Check: According to the Forrester Research report: Is Cloud Computing Ready For the Enterprise? “The main consumers of cloud computing are small companies and startups that don’t have a legacy of IT investments to manage.” But while cloud computing’s cost-effective model appeals to small businesses, large enterprises with well-crafted SLAs (Service Level Agreements) and mature IT teams also stand to benefit. Challenges, however, remain for mid-size organisations as there are a significant middle market that without some planning will have a tough time using cloud computing technology.

Myth 4: Everything should be in the cloud

Reality Check: Trying out cloud computing doesn’t necessarily entail handing over your entire database to a third-party provider. Rather, companies can choose to farm out just bits and pieces in the same way many HR teams outsource recruiting but keep payroll processing in-house. A perfect example: The New York Times used Amazon EC2 and S3 to generate PDFs of 11 million articles in the newspaper’s archives but kept production of the newspaper in-house.

Myth 5: Cloud computing is a cure-all

Reality Check: As much as marketers would have you believe that cloud computing can solve all your server and storage headaches; there are still plenty of system design challenges to work out. For example, not all applications are ideal candidates for cloud computing based on their sensitivity, especially when it comes to handing over financial applications governed by strict compliance regulations. What’s more, as outlined in the Forrester report, “most cloud vendors today still do not do not provide availability assurances. Service-level agreements are mostly nonexistent.” In other words, cloud computing can potentially come with its fair share of downtime so make sure your prepared for this. On the plus side, we are already seeing companies like Google work hard to address this.