I have had the opportunity to watch the technology evolution of small and medium businesses for the past 10 years.  My SMB adventure started as an analyst with the Yankee Group in the late 90's.  I recall vividly some of the initial survey results where only 20% had broadband access and broadband at the time was defined as anything greater than 128k.  Not exactly what we would consider broadband today. At the same time the dot com bubble was forming.  I met with hundreds of innovative companies that had great plans for the SMB market. Couple issues, the SMB market was simply not ready and frankly niether were the tech companies as most of their solutions while innovative were immature and cumbersome to use.  It was common place to make fun of ASPs, unified communications and video conferencing.  We even dubbed them as "zero million dollar markets." But again that was then. Enough about the past, let's quickly fast forward to today.

Small businesses use more hosted services today than they probably even know.  Use Yahoo Mail or Gmail? Hosted.  Ever jump on a WebX or GotoMeeting conference? Hosted. Have a CRM solution? Odds are that it is hosted too.  Need a great back up solution? Hosted. Looking into innovative cost effective VoIP solution?  Yeap, all the best offerings are hosted.  

GoS Networks is an example of a company that is increasingly going hosted.  After an assessment of email options we elected to go with Google Premier, we use a hosted project management application (www.teamworkpm.net which is actually better than Basecamp), this very web site is hosted (www.squarespace.com) and our telephony services are powered by a BroadSoft (www.broadsoft.com) powered hosted platform.

To say the least, the top technology companies are taking note and rapidly looking to transform themselves.  I had to read this quote several times to make sure I was reading things properly - 

“Anything that has been a server needs to be a service.”

Steve Ballmer, CEO Microsoft

It was not so much the quote that threw me for a loop, it was the source.

Honestly, if you would have said this very same thing to Ballmer only two years ago I think he would have insulted you and asked you to step outside.  He's a big boy, I would advise that you decline the offer.  I don't want to get into a debate here about Microsoft's strategy or who is going to win.  Frankly, I don't know and anyone that tells you they do is a fool and there won't be a single winner.  One thing I do know is that the fight will take place in the Cloud and it will be better than Ali-Frasier (OK maybe as good).  Ballmer closes this article with a great quote that I think is at the root of hosted services - “We are taking the complexity out, not the capabilities.” Forgive me but the cynic in me does chuckle when Microsoft talks about reducing complexity but to be fair they are rapidly transforming themselves.

Let's also look at another technology company who can be viewed as traditional, IBM.  

With a Big Push, IBM Gives Cloud Computing Its Blessing

Lotuslive is a great example of how IBM is actually making a real effort to go after the SMB market with a hosted solution.  

Not much needs to be said about Google and their hosted ambitions.  Google docs, Gmail, GoogleVoice and up next Google Wave all give a clear indication of Google's outlook on the cloud.  I don't want to say they invented it but they have the greatest amount of real estate.  A recent story that I have been tracking is the potential adoption of Google Apps by the city of Los Angeles.  This is far form the a done deal and many of the fear mongers are at work trying to keep LA in the past.  Here's an article from a newspaper in LA. I completely understand this reporters anger, the web is wreaking havoc on all of traditional print media and Google is leading the charge.  

There isn't time to review all things cloud computing in a blog entry. For all of the above research I simply Googled or Binged - "XYZ company and cloud computing." Doing so on the likes of HP, Amazon, Cisco, Avaya, Oracle all lead to interesting results.  

While we have come a long way in the last 10 years there is no telling what will happen in the next ten years and I know that I am personally very excited.  I don't think that everything will necessarily move to the cloud but the lines between what is in the cloud, a corporate data center or resident on a PC will become so blurred that no one will even think about it.  

Another clear result of this evolution will be the strain on broadband connections. No matter how great the web app, how innovative the unified communications solution, or the brilliance of the HD video conference this whole revolution rolls off the tracks if you don't have a persistent and reliable connection. Clearly the ubiquity of broadband is here and service providers continue to invest in fatter pipes.  Mobile broadband is set to surge as various operators roll out LTE.  I can even stay connected while on a Southwest flight (in a middle seat no doubt).  But while fatter pipes will emerge a key issue will remain, how can quality be assured.  When everything goes IP - voice, video, bing, Google Apps, collaboration, unified communications, presence - how can the network sort out what needs priority?  Namely voice and video versus what can handle a little delay such as email and the rendering of a web page.  

If cloud computing (as well as the corporate datacenter) is going to deliver on it's promises then a better QoS solution is required.  One that can deal with multiple real-time applications is a necessity.  This is a key area for GoS Networks' approach to QoS which we not surprisingly are named after - Guarantee of Service. Only GoS can properly prioritize multiple real-time applications.  

As cloud computing continues take off analyst are already asking this important question.  If cloud computing is to take off businesses will expect some level of QoS and related SLAs.  This article from fiercevoip summarizes the issue well.  Adoption of cloud computing can only be limited by the quality of the connection.  

If you like jittery voice, slide show style video, latent collaboration sessions then please remain with the status quo.  If you expect the cloud to really work, then I encourge you to learn more about GoS.