There were tweets a plenty today about Mark Benioff and his latest term: “Cloud 2,” referring to the apps that will come from VMforce, the new Java-platform as a service that Saleforce.com and VMware are launching.
Dennis Howlett added to the discussion by picking up on the meme that Salesforce.com CEO Mark Benioff shared as part of the launch:
Benioff understands the value of a meme. And as a result, he has more command over the enterprise cloud market than any other executive in the space.
Cloud 2 is a that term shifts perspectives, connecting the concept of the cloud and the social Web to the Java-dominated environment of the enterprise. People may run away cynically but the language seems to work in the public discourse.
In the message is a clear realization that the social Web is the overall dynamic theme that is affecting the Internet as we know it.
That’s something people can understand.
Facebook is playing on that theme to challenge Google on the premise that hyperlinks are the future of the Web. Facebook is connecting presence with location to serve relevant updates, which act as gestures. In this regard, the social Web is woven into Facebook’s fabric.
Salesforce.com and VMWare understand the dynamic that Facebook brings to the Web and into the overall enterprise. The apps developed out of VMforce will connect to an open graph that the enterprise controls. That’s a theme that can be communicated through the discussions about the VMForce platform. It will resonate far more than dull conversations about technology infrastructure.
The alliance also shows that VMware is now positioned to compete as a platform providers against Google, Amazon and Windows Azure.
All of this leave Oracle and SAP in a tight spot. These are not exactly companies that are commanding in their influence about the social Web and its connection to the enterprise.
They are deeply entrenched, for instance, in this long discussion about private cloud computing, not communities of interest. It’s like Oracle has rejected this aspect of the Sun merger.
Sun would seem like the logical successor to Java in the cloud. Java has historically served to represent Sun as the force behind one of the technology world’s most important developer communities.
But that power is changing hands with Salesforce.com and VMware as possible successors.
VMware now is a direct benefactor of the Salesforce drive to the enterprise. And Salesforce.com has all the advantages that VMware offers from its own enterprise imprint and its $420 million acquisition of SpringSource last summer.
Java is a cornerstone coding language of the enterprise The question we now have to face: What will the competitors do as the Java platform moves into the cloud? How can they counter the micro application approach that seems to be gaining importance in the enterprise with each passing day.
