Hybrid Cloud = Same Sh*t different Offering?

I have had a number of conversations the past two weeks about Cloud computing and what companies are asking for and what they are actually buying. My observation is this:

Companies want providers to offer public and private cloud elasticity, but only buy hybrid.

This is following another form of pretzel logic (yes I like Steely Dan. A lot.) which are the folks who say they need to be outside of THE blast zone. (What zone? For which type of blast?)

First one first - duh. Was there ever ANY other choice than they hybrid cloud? Not all data is meant for public consumption in spite of compliance rules trying to impose transparency (visibility) and so the notion of a public cloud was right out of Woodstock, man. The public cloud was exciting because it took the pressure off of IT departments to have to plan way ahead of stuff. If they needed capacity, they went out and got it someplace that had it and didn't have to go to a CFO and ask for $500K of gear to support the new marketing initiative or cover their *ss when they underestimated the website traffic when Justin Bieber played a benefit concert for Hurricane Irene survivors. It solved a lot of unmaterialized logistics and scoping problems and was branded as being insecure and we couldn't have that in the age of WikiLeaks and Anonymous hacking could we...

Then the pendulum of cloud swung back to private cloud. Well by my assessment private cloud was just another way to get billed for computer stuff by the hour. Private Cloud computing was becoming the No-tell Motel option and charging by the hour. If you wanted something quick and dirty and the movie titles not printed on the receipt then you could get your resources by the hour. In this case all the data and network and everything about the environment was kept out of plain sight and secured.

Then it's as if the blinking light went steady on us - we can have both things - the ability to not have to know in advance what we will need for resources AND the ability to keep sensitive stuff more secure.

Is it just me or isnt this what managed colocation and managed services have been doing for the past 20+ years?

Why are containerized modular data centers the new Black now?

What took you so long?

I was at Data Center Dynamics in Wasington DC on Tuesday and you may have thought it was Modular Dynamics instead. It seemed as if the data center world finally came around to what I have been seeing, studying, deploying, and writing about since 2008. That's not to infer that the modular solutions have gone mainstream yet, but the conceptualization has matured a lot as expected.

HP had a scale model of the EcoPod which was cool to see since up to that point I had only seen Powerpoint slides about it and have yet to see the real thing. PDI was showing off their modular solution as well which will be watched closely as they have some patent infringement allegations they are fending off. ActivePower had their PowerHouse scale model on display as well and given the coziness between HP and ActivePower in recently announced deployments I could easily see them sharing a booth at future trade events.

Bytegrid was the only data center owner operator who was able to speak to containers at the event - and did openly talk to several people about the good the bad and the stuff that trips you up on deployment and had specifics to back up the discussions. The three other owner operators there - GigaPark, QTS, and Powerloft weren't talking about supporting modular solutions.

Based on what I saw, acceptance has increased dramatically, demand is rising right along with it, and the Achilles heel that was there three years ago is there today still - being able to answer 'So where can I put one of these things?' with something other than 'Wherever you want'. ByteGrid is on to something and will be watched.