Cloud to Ground

Everybody is talking about Cloud Computing, the idea that your computing needs can be done by utility computing resources out there on the internet. One sometimes overlooked issue with Cloud Computing is how do you get your data out of the cloud, summed up in the phrase "Cloud-to-Ground".

The issue is that you have your data in the cloud, but you need it down here in your local computing systems so that for example, you can prepare a presentation for the board, or generate a quarter end report, or confirm that a new customer can get the telephone support they just paid for. While it is not a hugely different from other data integration problem, it is one more thing to put on your check list when you think about how you are going to use Cloud Computing.

I first heard the phrase last year when Mike Pittaro of SnapLogic spoke to the SDForum Business Intelligence SIG on SaaS Data Integration. It was only later that I discovered the origin of the phrase is describing a type of lightning.