Selling the Cloud Sublime - To the Cloud: Big Data in a Turbulent World - page 120

by a phenomenal 650% over the next ive years. These two unstoppable
enterprise IT trends, Cloud Computing and Big Data, will converge in
New York City at the 12th Cloud Expo—being held June 10-13, 2013,
at the Javits Center in New York, NY.” Moreover, the website proclaimed,
“In the most transformative technology shift since the personal computer
and the Internet, it's apparent that migrating business to the cloud has
reached a tipping point in 2012, where it is no longer a trend but rather an
absolute business requirement.” And if we needed an exclamation point:
“Join us as a media partner—together we can rock the IT world!” ( Cloud
Expo 2013). All pilgrimages exact a price; even las peregrinas who walk
the Camino have to pay for equipment, accommodations, and the much-
encouraged donations. But the pilgrimage to the cloud in the Big Apple
costs considerably more. To simply attend all of the conference sessions
over four days runs $2,500. So, unlike the Camino, the cloud pilgrimage,
whether to New York or to any of a number of cloud-trade-show venues,
is limited to those who can afford the high entry fee.
Trade shows build community in several different ways. The registra-
tion fee itself makes certain that only people who are strongly motivated
to be part of the community participate. The content ranges across every
dimension of promotionalism. Registrants who need basic training in
the wonders of the cloud can join a cloud-computing bootcamp and
take a cloud-essentials course. All participants have access to exhibitors
representing every type of cloud-computing and big-data company. The
exhibition hall is a massive marketing and sales space. As in any promo-
tional event, whether people are selling spirituality or computer services,
some are singled out as especially gifted in the ield, and these take up
roles as keynote speakers who sell the cloud and big data from their own
positions within the industry. Whether they are covering the trade-offs
between the cloud and on-premises computing, the potential of big data
to identify customers or voters, or the transformation of the IT profes-
sion from operations to service delivery, there is a pattern to the keynotes
and the breakout sessions. They tend to begin with a broad overview that
praises the cloud as a general and proitable business tool. This might
involve cost comparisons between different types of cloud arrangements:
public, private, and hybrid. Next, they identify a problem that businesses
face, such as maintaining data security or entering the Asian market.
Finally, they conclude with a pitch on how the products and services of
the speaker's company, whether Rackspace's hybrid cloud or Pacnet's