The second challenge for IT operations is associated with managing the dynamic application topologies that are fundamental to cloud computing apps. The vision of cloud computing is applications that have additional resources joining or leaving the application topology in response to load, response times, etc. IT operations will have to figure out how to implement management practices to support that vision. New types of system management software will be needed that supports dynamic operations, which circles back to the previous predication about organizational skill building.

The third challenge is one of scale -- not of individual apps, but of the total number of apps that the business wants to run. As noted in End User Prediction #1, above, the number of applications companies will be running is going to explode. Operations practices appropriate for one scale of application numbers will fall over when confronted with ten times as many applications. It's unclear how this will turn out, but it's very clear that existing operations practices will be stressed as never before.

And, by the way, this is all without the previously-developed public cloud applications being dropped off at Operations doorstep with a note asking it to take responsibility for this abandoned child (we call this phenomenon "").

So there you have it. My list of ten things we can expect to see next year in cloud computing. If you thought 2010 was exciting, you'll find 2011 exhilarating. If you found 2010 full of cloud hot air (fog?), you'll hate 2011. What do you think? Are there other developments we can expect? If you have thoughts of your own, please feel free to comment.

Bernard Golden is CEO of consulting firm , which specializes in virtualization, cloud computing and related issues. He is also the author of "Virtualization for Dummies," the best-selling book on virtualization to date.