"Cloud Computing will become more entrenched in reality as it continues to cost-effectively solve real-world problems and as it enables new revenue opportunities," stated Andy Land, Vice President of Marketing at UnboundID, in this exclusive Q&A with Cloud Expo Conference Chair Jeremy Geelan. Land concluded, "The ideas around the cloud are over 15 years old - today's technology is just catching up with the idea and making it happen."

Cloud Computing Journal: A very general question first, about Cloud Computing itself: Surely we've heard all of this before in various forms and guises - grid computing / utility computing, etc.? What is different this time - why is everyone so convinced it will now work?

Andy Land: Are customers convinced it will now work? I believe that the vendors are convinced it will work, but that customers are still vetting the idea. I think customers are savvier these days, and that they can see through the marketing hype. If vendors can make the cloud work this time to solve a customer's real problem, then cloud computing will become a trend and not just another fad like "ASPs- application service providers."

Cloud Computing Journal: What are the three main factors driving companies toward the Cloud?

Land: The three main factors I believe are:

1. Cost - there's a belief that it is less expensive.
2. Simplicity - it should take away the chaos that I deal with today.
3. Hype - the cloud is the shiny new object, so customers are checking it out to see if it really fulfills its promise.

Cloud Computing Journal: And what are the three main barriers preventing some companies from moving some of the on-premise computing to the Cloud?

Land: The three main barriers are:

1. Security - is my valuable data really secure?
2. Auditability/Compliance - can I ensure that I am meeting all regulatory obligations?
3. Fear/Risk Aversion - is this new way really better?

Cloud Computing Journal: How does your own company's offering/s assist CIOs and organizations/companies?

Land: UnboundID helps both cloud service providers and enterprises with public, private, and hybrid clouds. We provide a customer-centric infrastructure where user information is stored and made available to any and all applications. To manage any cloud environment you need to store user/identity information securely and that information should be re-usable across all of the applications and services you provide.

Cloud Computing Journal: Are there other players in the Cloud ecosystem offering the same - or is your company unique? Why?

Land: There are other vendors with similar products, but their products were built to solve an internal enterprise problem. The UnboundID products were built to deal with the realities of the cloud: performance-at-scale, multi-tenancy, elastic scalability, virtualization, and audit.

Cloud Computing Journal: We hear talk of a Cloud Revolution and also of a Cloud "evolution" - either way, what kind of time span are we talking about, do you think. In other words, for how long is Cloud Computing going to exert its pull on the minds, hearts, and budgets of all involved in modern-day Enterprise IT?

Land: Anyone with that kind of crystal ball could get rich! In my opinion, there is still too much hype and not enough reality. Cloud Computing will become more entrenched in reality as it continues to cost-effectively solve real-world problems and as it enables new revenue opportunities. To me, this is more about evolution than revolution. The ideas around the cloud are over 15 years old - today's technology is just catching up with the idea and making it happen.