Joe Clifford (5/23/2012)
Zynga.com has probably the most interesting/compelling story "out there" about their use of the cloud - they started as a 100% cloud play and then discovered that they could do it in house for a lot less, they now use the cloud for its’ ability to burst rapidly, but not for day to day operations as it simply costs more than running on premise in the long term and they have actually morphed into a mini-Amazon in that they are now selling their own excess capacity.http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/229402805
Joe
I think that as you scale in a predictable fashion, it does become a harder ROI in the cloud. However Zygna has done it well. Build for the cloud, but run things in house when it is more cost effective. Run in the cloud when it's bursty.
Having stuff in house at a minimal level makes sense for applications. It's definitely cheaper at some point.