Clouds Merge, Search Challenge Emerges
November 4, 2008
Ben Worthen’s Web log post for the Wall Street Journal describes the “clouds aligning” for Salesforce.com, Amazon.com, and Facebook.com. You can read the November 3, 2008, post here. For me the most interesting point in the write up was this statement, “But once you cut past the hype there’s something pretty interesting taking place. Businesses that write software that runs on Salesforce.com’s “platform” can now have the same software run on Facebook. And they can use Amazon’s services to support this software.”
ZDNet’s Michael Krigsman here also commented on the announcement. The point he made that I noted was: “Salesforce customers not serving a large consumer segment may find the announcement somewhat confusing and irrelevant, since suddenly their business vendor is proudly involved with a decidedly consumer partner.”
The post Web 2.0 marketing wizards at Salesforce.com have shifted their message weapons to blast me with cloud computing speak. Three issues crossed my mind:
- Which of these companies will offer a search service that will make the appropriate information available to users? The lead dog will have some tough technical issues to resolve.
- Amazon.com’s cloud computing infrastructure comes closest to being a potential competitor to Salesforce.com. Salesforce.com may see Amazon.com as a bookseller. Does Salesforce.com see itself as a cloud computing bookseller with the ability to encroach on Salesforce.com’s customers?
- WWGD or what will Google do? Google has dated Salesforce. com, often acting as a cheerleader who refuses to go steady.
The announcement is interesting because it puts in play several forces that were undirected in the enterprise sector or sitting on the bench waiting for a reason to show what each can do. In short, I think this is a the official turbo charging of the buzzword “cloud computing” and it sets in motion some interesting market interactions.
Stephen Arnold, November 4, 2008
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