Goodbye cloud computing, hello hybrid?

We should have known that it wouldn't be long before the term cloud computing would encounter some industry backlash. To some degree, we could have expected this from Oracle based on their history of adopting trends. Yet now it looks as if HP and IBM have joined the fray with Sam Palmisano referring to cloud computing as an unfortunate name. The folks over at InformationWeek have gone so far as to offer a $100,000 prize to the best alternative term.

But what this really comes down to is not so much a debate over semantics as much as it is about applying a new term to an existing architectural approach. Infoworld's Eric Knorr puts it this way, "Cloud computing is such a big tent that it has become a three-ring circus bursting with any new technology or service, old or new, that touches the network. Is there anything revolutionary about software as a service? Or a host that lets you upload your virtual machines over the Internet and run them remotely?"

While the marketing people clearly had a ball with the term cloud, the architects and developers are pretty much ignoring those messages and remain focused on the IT foundation.

Call it what you will, there will always be an interest in creating an architecture that provides greater visibility into the infrastructure while mitigating business risks. This applies whether or not applications and services are located in public or private clouds or remain fixed on premises. The combination of both of these approaches currently goes by the catchy (?) name of hybrid computing.

You'll likely start to see this term pop up more over the coming year as companies look at the value of putting some services and applications in clouds - public or private - and keeping others fastened to the corporate infrastructure.

And as the hybrid model comes into play, there will be more discussions about the role of governance across these mixed computing environments. To get a jump on this, Interarbor Solutions industry analyst Dana Gardner is actually leading a live webinar and Q&A discussion with WebLayers on Tuesday, November 10. The session, "How governance gets you more mileage from your hybrid computing environment" is geared toward architects and developers and presents an opportunity to discuss and debate the role of governance in hybrid environments.

Do you think hybrid computing will go the way of the cloud or is the next big thing? Post your thoughts below or join the conversation tomorrow.