????2011年，云計算技術證明，自己是推動IT行業變革的主要推動力。不同類型和規模的機構均開始正式采用混合云技術，也就是公共云與私有云計算綜合服務。2012我們將迎來什么？

私有云不僅不會消失，還會繼續發展壯大。

????最初的許多云計算項目都是源于開發人員對緩慢的IT配置能力的不滿。于是，他們抓住機會，從公共云服務提供商處獲得原始計算能力，而代價只不過是一張公司信用卡而已。于是，有權威人士稱，IT的功能已經成為歷史，公共云才是“唯一法門”。而私有云是機構內部專用的按需IT基礎設施，因此可以說它并不是“真正的云技術”。而且公共云服務提供商認為，私有云沒有存在的必要，因為它不夠靈活，而且造價昂貴。但我認為這種說法純屬“自以為是”。

????這種說法存在兩個問題。首先是內在的自相矛盾：公司目前正在使用私有云提供靈活、按需提供的計算環境，因此不能苛責IT部門不夠靈活。另外一個問題是，機構之所以認為在現有數據中心中配置私有云更加容易、便宜存在大量現實的商業原因。其中一個例子實私有云具備成熟的、獲得監管部門批準的安全防護與數據隱私控制操作和流程。

????理論上，在哪里進行計算并不重要，但實際上卻并非如此。筆者曾經參加過一次圓桌會議，會上華爾街的一位CIO曾這樣說：“當然得考慮風險問題。如果可以在私有云上運行應用程序，審查也不存在問題，為什么要使用外部云服務？”

混合云將繼續壯大

????公共云的使用推動了計算技術的革新，尤其是對于一些難以預測的面向客戶的應用程序。而私有云在公司處理監管機構、標準和其他對運行企業應用程序至關重要的非技術問題時非常關鍵。對云技術的選擇主要取決于公司和應用程序的需求，因此，未來合理綜合公共云與私有云的混合云，仍將是大多數公司的實用選擇。

????In 2011, cloud computing demonstrated that it was a major driver of change in the IT industry. Organizations of all types and sizes began using the hybrid cloud -- a combination of public and private cloud computing -- in earnest. What can we look forward to in 2012?

The private cloud won't go away, but grow bigger.

????Many early cloud projects were the result of developers frustrated by slow IT provisioning times. They took advantage of the ability to get rapid access to raw computing power from public cloud providers using little more than a corporate credit card. This lead pundits to posit that IT's function had failed and that the public cloud was the One True Way. Thus the private cloud, a dedicated on-demand IT infrastructure within the four walls of an organization, was somehow not "true cloud," and public cloud providers argued that private cloud should not exist because it wasn't flexible or cheap. I call this the "holier than thou" argument.

????There are two problems with this idea. The first is an inherent contradiction: one cannot castigate IT departments for being inflexible when they are using private cloud to deliver a flexible, on-demand computing environment for their businesses. The second is that there are plenty of pragmatic business reasons why organizations find it easier and cheaper to deploy within existing data centers. Established, regulator-approved security and data privacy controls and processes are one example.

????In theory it shouldn't matter where computing is done, but in practice it matters a lot. As one Wall Street CIO put it at a roundtable I attended: "Of course risk is the issue. If I can run it [the application] on a private cloud and pass audit, why run it elsewhere?"

The hybrid cloud will continue to grow.

????Public cloud usage has driven a revolution in computing, especially for hard-to-forecast customer-facing applications. Private clouds are essential to organizations dealing with regulators, standards and other non-technical issues that are crucial to running business applications. The choice is driven by the needs of the business and the application, ensuring that hybrid clouds, making use of both public and private clouds as appropriate, will continue to be the pragmatic decision for most organizations.