Cloud computing is getting exciting with the beta release of Google App Engine in April.   There are many questions about the technology adoption challenges for enterprise computing.  Specifically questions like:

1. Is Google App Engine better than Amazon Web Services?
2. Can we develop enterprise applications with Google App Engine?

Both Google and Amazon promise to make Web application development easier.  Their service architectures are however quite different.  

So let me elaborate – Amazon’s clouds have an N-tiered architectural perspective.  The key components are:

• Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud  or Amazon EC2is a web service that provides resizable compute capacity in the cloud.
• Amazon Simple Storage Service or Amazon S3 is storage for the Internet.
• Amazon SimpleDB is a web service for running queries on structured data in real time.
• Amazon Simple Queue Service or Amazon SQS offers a reliable, highly scalable, hosted queue for storing messages.

These amazon services  can be used collectively to provide the ability to store, process and query data sets in the cloud.  Amazon’s architecture has built-in EAI – Enterprise Application Integration and automated workflow.

My opinion is that these amazon services are easier to be incorporated in an enterprise SDLC (Systems Development Lifecycle) and integrate with legacy systems. If you are an e-commerce store, Amazon also offers attractive e-commerce services e.g. Amazon Fulfillment Web Service or Amazon FWS that allows merchants to access Amazon.com’s fulfillment capabilities.  You let Amazon manage your inventory – you send inventory directly to Amazon where it is stored and managed in a secure, climate controlled facility. When orders are received, Amazon will professionally pick, pack and ship the product direct to your customer.

Google App Engine or GAE enables you to build web applications on the same scalable systems that power Google applications.  I saw interesting applications running in the App gallery, but it seems to limit one to develop standalone applications, not complex enterprise applications. 

I like to think of GAE as an innovation sandbox to test the user acceptance of a Web application concept quickly with millions of Google users, or perhaps even “share” Google’s user information  (indirectly for ad-targeting? This is a sensitive privacy topic!).  If you are a company that has an interactive customer business model, then maybe GAE is the cloud to grab. For example, Salesforce.com is integrating its CRM software with Google Apps.

So really, what matters is your business model and your business architecture.  Understanding this will make it easier to choose the cloud or perhaps use both of them.