Let's face it, Cloud Computing is this year's hot topic. We'll be paying a lot of attention to it at CMG'09 in Dallas because CMG is the best place to come to learn about it. After all, we, the CMG attendees, are the people who will be expected to manage and control this thing in the cloud....whatever it is. Of course, there's already a cloud out there. One example is Gmail, or just about any of the Google offerings. Google is just out there, taking care of email, searches, etc., and almost all of us use it in one way or another. I sure hope the Google guys know what they're doing.
Cloud Computing is a service-oriented concept (you could call it Service Oriented Architecture), and that's the direction computing is headed, at least in the short term. So attending CMG and learning all you can about it is pretty important. A recent Business Week article actually pointed out that Cloud Computing is platform-agnostic. That's right, the mainframe can run in the cloud, too. The article went on to mention cost comparisons, and mostly came down on the side of the mainframe. I'll let you make your own decision there, but the point is that Cloud Computing is something we ALL can and probably will get involved in.
Since hardware platforms are transparent in the service-oriented world of cloud computing, mainframes and servers can coexist - with each offering their own advantages and disadvantages. CMG is the BEST organization on the planet to examine these issues because we have true experts from all sides. And the Business Week article legitimizes the point that mainframes may play a surprisingly important role in the cloud.
So there it is - yet another reason to attend CMG'09 in Dallas. Whether you're on the mainframe or server side of the fence, that fence is awfully hard to see when it's way up in the cloud. We're all in this one together, so come to CMG and we'll watch the clouds part!
Two reminders: Early registration deadline is Friday, October 23, and the hotel reservation deadline is Wednesday, November 4.
Dave Thorn
General Chair, CMG'09
cmggc@cmg.org