Towards best practices in implementing and operating for the cloud

Cloud computing is the latest technology evolution and potential silver bullet, and there is both great expectation and fear to what consequences these technologies might cause. Based on the experience with the lack of adoption of SOA among the general development community the recommendation is to make sure that the development community engage in how cloud computing evolves. Although there is already strong support for these technologies from companies such as IBM and Microsoft, there is a need to explore good ways of implementing and operating services for the Cloud to ensure quality and productivity. In addition - due to the potential rapid availability of services in the cloud it is important to start exploring consequences of using such services, for instance access control, regulatory issues, development practices, security and practical operational issues. Capturing and discussing best practices on these subjects will contribute to a healthy movement in the right direction for those who will develop services for the Cloud.