Climbing toward the clouds

clouds

We have spent a few months of passionate work analyzing the state of the art of the use of CLOUD in companies and their evolution, due to the activity carried out within the framework of the REALCLOUD Project , where we have combined the activity of basic and applied research carried out by the project partners, URV focused on analyzing the boundaries of cloud storage, UJI focused on analyzing the borders of cloud computing, together with COREX and TISSATas a coordinator, shaping energy-efficient and economically sustainable systems over time, where the value we bring to the project from a sectoral Technological Institute such as AIMME is market knowledge on how to implement new ICT effectively, counting on collaboration of the ITIO-DOE-UPV research group .

At the beginning of the project we present the first advances made in the project within the framework of the ‘REALCLOUD: Application of Cloud Computing in companies’, with the aim of publicizing the current and future possibilities of CLOUD COMPUTING or cloud computing applied to companies to make them more competitive, as well as the activities of the Project to encourage both companies in the metal sector and the rest of sectors, including the IT sector itself.

During the day was presented to the more than 120 companies attending -more than 150 who have viewed the videos online in these first 4 months- the project survey whose results can be seen below in this document, filled by the not inconsiderable figure from more than 250 companies in our area.

The differential factor of this survey compared to others recently carried out by European or national organizations by large consultants, is that it is oriented to periodically measure (through 4 waves every six months, during 2012 and 2013) the evolution of the impact that these technologies have had, are having and are expected to be in the companies of our immediate environment, especially SMEs and self-employed, to analyze, identify and tear down all the barriers we detect along the way, trying to generate an ecosystem favorable to cooperate with all the agents that join the final objective, that the companies obtain benefits as soon as possible.

That road from I through D to get to the famous I + D + i is usually guided by three relevant factors:

1) Common Sense (WHAT): a company in the innovative metal sector will address the incorporation of new technologies in its processes if it previously sees clear investment returns, or at least sees the risk of testing it before tackling large investments when the return is assured by the maturity of the technology.

2) The trust that the agent transmits (WITH WHO) that helps you to make that change: generally you go to agents with credibility contrasted by the experience that the years give to that same work in an impartial way, with other technologies that in its moment were also incipient.

3) The time scale (WHEN): it is important to advance in time the test of new technologies (to anticipate your competition by innovating in processes) that makes sense to try together with the trusted agent that helps us, but for this they must be mature enough so that they do not become a waste of time (and money).

A good way to illuminate the darkness of this path of R & D & I, is to move from words to action with projects such as REALCLOUD, that is, we talk and write a lot about the enormous impact that is expected in the generation of new employment and wealth, but at the same time we are witnessing a good summary of phases, milestones or, better said, obstacles that we still have to overcome in this race towards the cloud: technological, legislative, change management, economic, etc. The best way to break down these barriers is to cooperate from different business sectors and AA.PP., and from different geographical areas so as not to reinvent the wheel continuously, so that we start from the results and previous pilot experiences to advance and accelerate this process all together .

Finally, echoing the first conclusions that are derived from the analysis of the surveys, together with the first contacts and meetings held from AIMME with companies from both the offer and the demand for the cloud, it is summarized that there is great confusion about the borders between remote hosting of web applications, server virtualization and cloud, which as always is resolved by attending the awareness actions ( conferences ) and training ( courses ) that we have organized from AIMME, and will continue to organize according to the demand we are having.

Hopefully in a not too distant horizon, perhaps it is in the famous HORIZON 2020 that is spoken in the field of European research, we can look back and see that we have managed to reach the goal satisfactorily and we are all winners.

To finish, reiterate our invitation to participate with us, filling out the survey, if you have not already done so, re-filling it before the close of the next wave, if you have already done so, attending the workshops and courses we organized, and encouraging you to migrate to the cloud the computer developments of your company to start before offering it as a service instead of as a product, and at the same time migrating to the cloud the servers and applications that make sense to migrate so that the part of our employees that makes sense to use it, can do it as soon as possible.