Enabling confidence in the cloud

My latest Computer Weekly column is now on-line:

http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2009/08/05/237195/enabling-confidence-in-the-cloud.htm

In other news: I gave a presentation on cloud computing to some senior executives of a major HMG department yesterday. I have to say that I was encouraged by the nature of the questions being asked by the audience - they demonstrated both a solid grasp of the underlying concepts of cloud computing and also a genuine interest in understanding the commercial and business benefits that the cloud model offers. I think that's one of the strengths of cloud computing - the business benefits in terms of flexibility and removal of some of the barriers to business innovation are obvious, the trick is going to be to derive the appropriate assurance models and drive the necessary cultural changes. Time for everyone to learn some new skills methinks :-)