Most IT organizations are now heavily invested in virtualization, with the majority now on a journey to their “Cloud” – whether private, public or a hybrid combination.

While the journey can be complex, it is now a well-traveled path littered with both successes and failures that we can all learn from.

The frenzy around cloud computing is analogous to the California gold rush of the 1849. As many gold prospectors discovered, without the right planning, provisions, and ability to execute, gold remained out of reach. For many organizations the same is true regarding cloud computing — they "rush to the cloud" and then try figure out how to manage it.