Live Blog -- CLoud Launch: Morning Panel

Reuven Cohen made an empassioned point about how there is no such thing as a "Canadian cloud" and put Canadian telecom providers on the spot for their lack of flexibility in offerings and mobile plans. Apparently, Reuven maxed out his mobile data plan pretty quickly...

Also according to Cohen, the NIST definition was created as a way for the US FedGov to procure the typical cloud based services as a direct result of a mandate from Vivek Kundra, first Federal CIO. According to one audience member, this has only helped bigger companies sell into the government and has excluded SMBs.

Misha Nossik added that risk aversion has prevented Canadian governments from adopting cloud computing even though they are trying desperately to hang onto their empires. Competition and efficiency is a major driver for cloud adoption in the US whereas Canada might not be facing this same pressure (yet?).

It seems that, with respect to government, maybe we should be discussing the need to consolidate services and share them on the whole rather than just outsource everything in an effort to use cloud computing. Here, there is a distinct lack of a cloud computing roadmap and maturity model to judge progress. Is it possible that, if we were to show the way to move forward and show the current state at various stages, adoption would be greater and simpler to promote?

Audience member invoked the Patriot Act in his point about how our legislation and regulations can help Canada's ability to become "data Switzerland". Cohen pointed out that this has been done before and that it was a failure because no one wanted it. With respect to Canada, he said, the cost structure is simply not competitive while Andrew Fisher added that the scale is simply not there (yet?).

It boils down to how Canadian companies can add value to cloud computing and an audience member agreed by adding that when [we] created the Canadarm, [we] decided we would not be NASA but would add value in a different way. Shahab showed how the Province of New Brunswick has become the call centre capital of Canada in this same way. Rough consensus, either by active advocacy or by passive non-opposition, seems to be that SaaS is where Canada can excel and add the value we're so desperately looking for.

Let's get some clarity and focus on our capabilities, first, I say. Then we can talk about where to add value. We can't get anywhere without first knowing where we start from and then knowing where we're going.

Thanks to Nossik for stopping the self/Canadian bashing.

Live Blog -- Cloud Launch: Shahab Khan

Shahab Khan is working to help promote cloud computing in Canada with Startup Canada.

Despite everything discussed this morning, Khan says that many startups are not aware of which cloud based services are available to them, or even that they exist. As he suggests, this is because of the lack of consistent nomenclature and cloudwashing. Hopefully, this is not the case for tech based startups...

Cash is king. Truer words have never been spoken. Most small businesses are cash based operations that don't employ many service providers beyond their accountant and lawyer (if that).

Live blog: Cloud Launch -- Driving the Cloud

One last thought from Terry Matthews about cloud computing: "Opportunities around the world with cloud and mobile are just unbelievable. More than I can talk about today because it's everywhere..." He discussed how mobile has evolved and become so important in day-to-day life.

Mobile is clearly a major driver of innovation for cloud computing. The requirements for platforms, instant scalability, and innovation are high while barriers are dropping. The challenge is for us to promote adoption and facilitate the innovation.