Mr Martin Yates: Both customers and providers of IT services need to rethink and plan the balance and shift of infocomm skills needed in the new paradigm.

The Singapore Computer Society (SCS) has set up a Special Interest Group (SIG) on Enterprise Cloud Computing and Virtualisation to focus on the strategies and skillsets needed as organisations shift from traditional IT service models to the cloud service model.

At the launch of the SIG on 27 January 2010, following an introduction to the new SIG by its Chairman Mr Martin Yates, Dr Lee Hing Yan, Programme Director of the National Grid Office at the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore gave a presentation on Singapore’s cloud computing strategy and initiatives.  Other speakers included Mr Zane Adams, Microsoft's Director of Virtualisation; Professor Steven Miller, Dean of the Singapore Management University’s School of Information Systems and Dr Patrick Chan, Chief Technology Advisor for IDC's Asia/Pacific Emerging Technology Council.

Cloud computing is a technology service evolution that allows computer resources to be shared and accessed via the Internet instead of having local resources to handle specific applications.

At the technology level, one of the key drivers enabling centralised, high-density and cost-efficient cloud computing is virtualisation. The most common of these is server virtualisation, which allows companies and service providers to better utilise computing power and reduce the number of physical servers needed to provide services.

Going forward, there will be even greater consolidation and efficiency from the virtualisation of data storage devices, network devices, desktop services and the applications themselves, said Mr Yates.

These developments are expected to have a profound effect on both public and private sector businesses.  “IT executives will need to carefully plan and execute a strategy in a market full of new choices and competitive opportunities within the cloud service paradigm,” he said.

Mr Yates expects 2010 to be a key turning point as the IT landscape shifts from in-house IT services towards external services. For the IT industry, the challenge will be to find a way to capitalise on lower cost infrastructure operations while implementing powerful business applications more dynamically and faster than it was previously done in-house.

“Both customers and providers of IT services need to rethink and plan the balance and shift of infocomm skills needed in the new paradigm,” he said.

The SCS SIG on Enterprise Cloud Computing and Virtualisation will be addressing some of these issues with activities that focus on the shift of experience from traditional IT service models to the cloud service model. In the pipeline are plans for a Virtualisation and Cloud Solutions Showcase as well as a Learning Day to be held twice a year. “We are developing exciting learning journeys for all our members … to raise the knowledge bar through networking and speaker experiences,” said Mr Yates.