FedEx CIO: 'Workload agnosticism' key cloud benefit

The many benefits offered by cloud services center on the fact that cloud computing enables complex hardware infrastructures to become "workload agnostic," according to FedEx CIO Rob Carter.

In a recent interview with InformationWeek, Carter defined cloud computing as "general purpose computing." According to Carter, cloud services enable various tasks to be shifted fluidly from one computer to another within a network, enabling hardware resources to be utilized as efficiently as possible.

Carter told InformationWeek cloud services differ from anything that has been offered in the past, despite the fact that some aspects of cloud computing are not in fact new. By utilizing cloud services, "you can throw different kinds of workloads on the same computing server infrastructure," Carter said.

The convergence of networks and protocols also enables companies to reduce costs, according to Carter. "For the first time ever, you can make investments in a whole new class of technology for about the same price of just maintaining the base," he said.

Carter's remarks reflect a broader trend among CIOs. According to a recent Gartner study, adoption of cloud computing is the top technology priority for CIOs worldwide.