Posts Tagged ‘cloud computing’

As unstructured file data increasingly resides in cloud file systems, there is a large component that is still missing: Drag & Drop.

Currently, it is not possible to drag a file from Box.net to Salesforce.com or any other cloud service, without first downloading the file to my desktop and then re-uploading it. This problem is compounded on mobile devices such as the iPad because there is no easily accessible local storage or ‘Desktop’ equivalent.

Solving this problem will be more of an engineering challenge than meets the eye. Every cloud service has implemented their own storage protocol and folder system. Second, there is the even larger problem of authentication. Hopefully it will soon be possible to easily tile two browser windows and drag from one cloud service to another. Until then, we will keep on downloading and re-uploading.

Postscript: I have concluded that a single online repository for all my files is a pipe-dream. As the Microsoft monopoly is broken apart, there is going to be increasing fragmentation of cloud services.

Facebook isn’t often cited as a cloud computing company since the ‘Social’ moniker has proven to be stickier. It does, however, meet the common definition of ‘Cloud’ i.e. the management of the hardware is highly abstracted from its users, the infrastructure is highly elastic, a variety of services (billing, authentication etc.) are bundled, and the underlying hardware is geographically dispersed.

What is fascinating is that Facebook, more than other cloud companies, gives us a glimpse into a future where computing and storage are virtually free and ubiquitous. With $2 billion in revenue for 2010 and about 500M users, Facebook has revenue of roughly $4 per user. With some back of the envelope math, it seems likely that the variable cost for each additional user is about $1 per year. Think of the services that Facebook is providing its users for $1. Unlimited photo storage and sharing. A contact database. Email. Instant messaging. A gaming platform.

The economics in the consumer cloud are compelling. They will become more so over time and as large enterprises realize that there is no strategic value in common IT, there will be a similar shift for businesses.