Cloud Computing, is it the future? .. or
0- One and
only future of IT ?
1- Rapid
growth ?
2- Security
issues ?
3- Top
challenge holding back Cloud adoption ?
4- Cloud
Strategies ?
0- The one and only future of
IT, or just another tool in the box?:
It is generally agreed that cloud computing technology
is the future of IT: a research study carried out in July 2010 by Portio
Research for Colt, entitled “European
CIOs and Cloud Services”, reported that 86% of the 353 European CIOs
surveyed believe that cloud services will be the operating method of the
future. Some pundits think that cloud computing will entirely replace IT as
know it.
However, most users disagree, and regard cloud as just
another tool in the box. Forrester Research’s Q3 2010 found that over half of
decision makers expected expenditure to stay about the same over the coming
twelve months.
Why is this?:
• Firms
are not ready to adopt cloud technology. To benefit from cloud, IT departments
need standardised operating procedures, fully automated deployment and
management, self-service access for developers and deployers, and business
units sharing the same infrastructure. In 2010 Forrester Research Inc reported
that only 5% of enterprises were in that position.
•
Immaturity of cloud services. Many of the cloud services marketed in 2010 and
early 2011 were the same old hosting services rebranded as cloud – a phenomenon
known as “cloud-washing”.
- Cloud Computing is poised for rapid growth:
2012 looks to be the year cloud computing will take
off in UK enterprises. In November 2011 Tech:Touchstone surveyed the delegates
attending its UK Virtualisation/Cloud Computing Executive Summit. The survey
revealed that cloud computing already has a significant share of UK large
organization IT budgets: the firms surveyed are now spending 10% of their IT
budgets on cloud computing services, and plan to increase that number to 28% in
the next 2 years.
However, behind this average 10% figure there are two types
or organizations: those that have embraced
cloud as an important part of their future strategy and those that are still on
the starting blocks. 43% of delegates surveyed were spending less than 1% of
their IT budgets on cloud; the remaining 57% were spending on average 18%. The
survey also confirmed that making the business case for cloud is becoming
easier: earlier this year 60% of delegates at the June 2011 Tech:Touchstone
Virtualisation/Cloud Computing Executive Summit with a zero spend on cloud were
unsure of the financial benefits of cloud computing; now that figure is down to
27%.
Figure 1 :Top Reasons for zero budgets on cloud computing
Añadir leyenda |
2 Security issues dominate firms’ thinking on Cloud:
Many organizations are finding that security is the
initial obstacle they must overcome to unlock the benefits of cloud computing.
To find out what was holding back the reluctant 43% who had no firm plans for
using cloud computing services, we asked them what they were worried about; 67%
responded that they had technical or security concerns (See Figure 1).
We conclude that security concerns are a major barrier
that hinders and delays firms from entering the cloud world; the survey also
confirmed that cloud security is an issue for those already spending IT budget
no cloud services. In fact security is the top topic about which both existing
adopters and firms new to cloud computing firms seek information and help (See
Figure 2).
The survey confirmed that security concerns underlie
all firms’ strategies for adopting cloud services. Of the organizations
surveyed:
• 69% reported that they had a specific interest in cloud security products and services.
Firms are looking to outside expert vendors to help them find the right
security solutions to meet their needs.
• 67% of delegates were interested in private cloud services. Private cloud
is a solution which has the benefits of cloud technology without the security
risks inherent in public cloud, so this confirms the degree to which security
is a top concern.
• 46% were interested in hybrid cloud/public cloud services. Private cloud is not seen as
the only way forward; almost half of firms would like to use hybrid or public
cloud, once they can be convinced that these clouds can be made secure enough
for each appropriate application.
• 39% are interested in cloud based communications services. Public
cloud-based email, instant messaging, and unified communications (such as Microsoft
lync on-line) are all growing in popularity; adequate security is the key to
the future take-off of these services.
What is
holding back cloud adoption ???
• 89% listed Security.
According to IDC, …“Security is top of mind for the vast majority of IT organizations
looking into public cloud delivery models”.
• 88% cited Performance. According to Easynet, almost 60% of Europe’s CIOs
believe that can migrate to cloud services without any updates to their
corporate networks.
• 85% mentioned Availability.
The furore over the April 2011 Amazon EC2 outage suggests that some major firms
are buying cloud services without adequate consideration of availability.
3- Security issues dominate
firms’ thinking on Cloud:
• Risk of data loss. Sensitive data processed
outside the enterprise brings with it an inherent level of risk.
• Regulatory compliance issues. Customers are
ultimately responsible for the security and integrity of their own data.
• Data location. When you use the cloud, you
probably won’t know exactly where your data is hosted.
• Data segregation. Data in the cloud is typically
in a shared environment alongside data from other customers.
• Recovery. Ask your provider if it has “the ability
to do a complete restoration, and how long it will take”.
• Investigative support. Investigating inappropriate
or illegal activity may be impossible in cloud computing.
• Long-term viability. Ideally, your cloud computing
provider will never go broke..
4- Performance is overlooked
in planning Cloud strategies:
The performance of an application running on a server
in the cloud depends on several factors:
- The server capacity allocated to the application. Cloud solutions are often used where the number of end-users is either highly variable or unknown; adequate server capacity is key to providing acceptable response time.
- Server location and application design. The speed of light may seen impossibly fast, but ‘chatty’ applications written with no regard for server location can involved hundreds of messages for every response, and will perform badly if the server is hundreds or thousands of miles away from the end-user.
- Network bandwidth. Inadequate network bandwidth acts as a throttle, requiring packets to queue for delivery. In the case of private clouds, this issue can be solved by providing sufficient network capacity; in public clouds it is more difficult. Public internet performance is highly variable and rarely covered by SLA; however the biggest bottlenecks are at international gateways and users can generally minimise performance issues by using a cloud service provider with a data center in their own country.
5- Plan your Cloud Strategy
to suit your business needs:
The time to act is now: all firms should put in place
a cloud strategy. We suggest using the following three imperatives to help you
plan your cloud strategy:
Imperative
1: Adopt a strategy based on business need.
Imperative
2: Start simple and build from there.
Imperative
3: Work with a partner that you trust.
I hope you liked my post and if you are looking for
more information you can check the links I have enclosed,
Susana.
Susana, ir Is true , the future Is cloud computing !!.
ResponderEliminarGreat article !!
Congrats
Marc