Over the past few years, cloud computing has grown to become the hottest trend to emerge in IT and storage. The cost of storage has continued to go down, so mass deployment of clouds has gone way up. Everyone wants to be part of the cloud opportunity and so it was natural that after an initial spark from a few US companies, the cloud has quickly expanded globally.
Perhaps the largest global cloud opportunities are going to come from China. According to this recent story at Technorati, there are plans to build a 7,800 square meter complex and dub it “Cloud Valley,” and it also happens to be a spot where more than 1,000 orders have already been made for cloud servers. In the same story, research firm IDC estimated that China can expect 30% growth in its cloud market this year alone.
Seagate's Wes Perdue speaks at the 2011 International Cloud Computing Seminar
Seagate recognized the opportunity in the region, and recently partnered with key organizations including the Chinese Institute of Communications (CIC) and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), to co-sponsor a forum on Cloud Computing in Beijing last month. The goal was to bring key think tanks, researchers, ministry officials and academic institutions together to discuss and learn about cloud computing and storage needs moving ahead.
The forum, called the International Cloud Computing Seminar (ICCS), brought presenters from Seagate including Wes Perdue, product line manager for cloud computing strategy, as well as participants from Google, Microsoft, Dell, and many others. During his presentation, Wes discussed cloud use trends as well as offering insight into how cloud systems are best deployed.
The feedback from the ICCS participants and attendees after the event was that it was a success, and it was the collaborative nature of the event and the ideas generated that made it so.
As the cloud infrastructure continues to develop and grow in other nations across the globe, having similar forums for engaging discussion and debate could prove to be valuable. Ultimately it’s all about answering the question of how the deployment of these global cloud data centers can be made as useful and efficient as possible for the world’s data.
