"Cloud computing arrived at a time when the industry was being asked to do more with less," explained Eric Olden, CEO & Founder of Symplified, in this exclusive Q&A with Cloud Expo Conference Chair Jeremy Geelan. "Cloud computing offers a solution to that problem," Olden continues, "on demand access to virtually limitless, cost-effective resources and for many this means entirely new capabilities that level the playing field. The ability and flexibility to pay only for what you use is a huge operational advantage."

Cloud Computing: A very general question first, about Cloud Computing itself: Surely we've heard all of this before in various forms and guises - grid computing / utility computing, etc.? What is different this time - why is everyone so convinced it will now work?

Eric Olden: The industry is long overdue for innovation and a platform to enable it. The past decade was like a long IT winter where innovation was kind of repressed due to the economic crisis, etc. As we are coming out of that, a lot of technology "cleaning" needs to be done. It's been over ten years since the time of over-buying that ended when the bubble burst in 2000. Since then venture money dried up, IT teams were slashed, and outsourcing became the way to go. CIOs had to triage existing projects, cut costs, and do more with less.

But in the last few years, innovation is back, based in large part on the explosion of the iPad and other mobile devices, the movement to a services-based economy and the abundance of rich Web apps for work and play. Cloud computing as a platform arose around the same time enabling this new innovation - from the applications we are building, to the platforms that deliver them, to the devices that we deliver them on. It's become the foundation for how we all consume technology.

Cloud Computing: What are the three main factors driving companies toward the Cloud?

Olden: Cloud computing arrived at a time when the industry was being asked to do more with less. Cloud computing offers a solution to that problem: on demand access to virtually limitless, cost-effective resources and for many this means entirely new capabilities that level the playing field. The ability and flexibility to pay only for what you use is a huge operational advantage.

Cloud Computing: And what are the three main barriers preventing some companies from moving some of the on-premise computing to the Cloud?

Olden: Security is arguably the number one concern when companies consider moving resources to the cloud. Whether it's data, identity or network security, it's of great concern. Can companies ensure the same control over access to apps and data that they expect behind their firewall? After that, integration is the biggest factor. This is where identity management comes in. Identity is security integration that links users, cloud apps and enterprise infrastructure to manage access control, auditing and authentication. These two issues, security and integration, are consistently cited as the biggest barriers to cloud adoption. Fortunately they can be overcome today.

Cloud Computing: How does your own company's offering/s assist CIOs and organizations/companies?

Olden: Symplified eliminates the security issue for organizations adopting cloud services and deploying SaaS applications into the enterprise as well as cloud service providers looking to create value added services. We offer a complete identity and access management platform that includes SSO, access management and identity management, enabling organizations to easily deploy these apps through a single password which in turn, protects data and simplifies the experience for users.

Cloud Computing: Are there other players in the Cloud ecosystem offering the same - or is your company unique? Why?

Olden: The market is really divided into the legacy software platforms that are slowly moving to the cloud and innovators built specifically for the cloud. As the first, pure-play cloud identity and access management platform, what sets Symplified apart from the others in the field is the depth and breadth of our solution. Unlike others that only offer SSO for the cloud, Symplified offers a complete end-to-end solution that enables identity management, access control, SSO and reporting. The most common thing we hear from both our enterprise and SMB customers is that Symplified is the simplest and more complete solution to the challenge of cloud identity.

Cloud Computing: We hear talk of a Cloud Revolution and also of a Cloud "evolution" - either way, what kind of time span are we talking about, do you think. In other words, for how long is Cloud Computing going to exert its pull on the minds, hearts, and budgets of all involved in modern-day Enterprise IT?

Olden: The cloud is still evolving as a platform and history has proven that every initial wave of innovation on a new platform is quickly followed by the need for tools to manage and secure the platform. The next step for the industry is to make it easier to integrate, move data from one provider to another and enable. And, all of this will drive increasing momentum for industry standards that IT will have to embrace on some level.