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Posted on Sun, Jun 6, 2010 : 5:58 a.m.

Cloud computing movement forces corporate IT professionals to diversify skills

By Nathan Bomey

The dynamics of the so-called “cloud computing” movement illustrate the need for corporate information technology professionals to aggressively diversify their skills.

And it needs to happen quickly.

Hewlett-Packard announced last week that it would lay off 9,000 employees, mostly in its data center division, and simultaneously hire 6,000 new workers.

p1_ness yan online tech_toned.jpg

Online Technologies CEO Yan Ness said corporate information technology professionals need to diversify their skills to handle new demands in the cloud computing movement.

Yan Ness of Online TEch

The massive personnel move comes as many companies, ranging from student-led startups to major global corporations, are relying on rented servers to handle their data needs. The trend, nebulously referred to as “cloud computing,” is causing both data center companies and corporations to re-evaluate their IT talent needs.

Yan Ness, CEO of Ann Arbor-based data center firm Online Technologies, said growth in cloud computing is still strong. The HP layoffs don’t change that, he said.

But the data center industry is ultracompetitive, and IT employees charged with handling servers and data centers must add a variety of skills to survive changes in the industry, he said.

The HP layoffs, Ness said, indicate that the industry is looking for “a different breed of person” proficient in power management, servers, data center complexity and electrical systems.

“You need people that span a breadth of expertise,” Ness said.

The power problem is significant. Data centers devour enormous amounts of power, and IT managers need to be prepared to minimize the cost of installing additional capacity to handle more bandwidth and storage demands.

As major tech companies like HP, Amazon and Google offer data services to companies throughout the globe, IT professionals are increasingly having a hard time justifying the decision to keep their own servers on site.

“Because of the mass digitization of everything, every aspect of business is putting data center infrastructure demands” on companies, Ness said.

Shifting data capacity off site makes IT managers nervous because of security concerns, but it’s getting harder to argue that data center specialists like Online Tech aren’t better positioned to help companies dodge cyber attacks.

Ness said Online Tech expects its revenue to jump more than 20 percent this year as companies get more comfortable with outsourcing data services. The firm plans to add two to five workers this year to keep up with demand. The company employs about 20 workers and another six contractors.

In response to growing demand, Ness said Online Tech expects to introduce new products within the next few months to help clients approach what he called the “private cloud.” The HP layoffs didn’t surprise him.

“It’s evidence of the three trends that we’re chasing,” he said, “which is the mass digitization of everything; the need for it to be always online, always available; and the love of outsourcing and fixed-price, capital-expense-free infrastructure to support this mass digitization.”

Contact AnnArbor.com's Nathan Bomey at (734) 623-2587 or nathanbomey@annarbor.com. You can also follow him on Twitter or subscribe to AnnArbor.com's newsletters.