Data Storage and the Cloud
“According to the research firm Gartner, cloud computing will be a $149 billion industry by 2015.”
There has been both good and bad buzz lately with the concept of cloud computing. Proponents understand and embrace the cost-effective efficiency of cloud data storage. The opponents are rightly concerned with data security and protection within the cloud. Some government agencies aren’t sure if and where the cloud should exist, while other agencies are turning to the cloud to cut costs and boost efficiency.
What can cloud computing attempt to solve in the workplace?
Cloud computing can create more streamlined and consolidated data storage without the high end costs of server maintenance. Email, data storage, and various other software applications most businesses need can be handled by cloud service providers such as Google Apps for Business. The days of needing to run an entire IT shop with dedicated and redundant servers are going away; businesses now find more efficient and budget friendly solutions by moving these services to a contracted cloud and virtualized environment provider.
Especially helpful to small business and startups, the savings on these costs can be extremely appealing. Ubuntu.com describes the idea of SaaS – Software as a Service well:
“The software is hosted on centralized network servers and made available over the web. SaaS can deliver a single application through the browser to thousands of customers. For customers, it means no upfront investment in servers or software licensing. For providers, with just one app to maintain, costs are low compared to conventional hosting. Well-known examples of SaaS applications include Salesforce.com and Google Apps.”
As the growth of cloud computing continues, there are also quite a few concerns.
Compliance issues will cause many businesses and organizations to ensure their legally binding commitments to their own end customers remain intact.
“Data privacy and business continuity are two big items for compliance. A number of privacy laws and government regulations have specific stipulation on data handling and BC planning. For instance, EU and Japan privacy laws demand that private data—email is a form of private data recognized by the EU—must be stored and handled in a data center located in EU (or Japan) territories.”
Legal and contractual issues will arise – who actually owns the data will need to be congruently determined when joining a cloud computing venture; intellectual property rights must be understood. Ideally, the the cloud provider will own the infrastructure and the applications while their customers own the data. You should also ensure that your data is removed from the cloud provider and packaged back to you if a termination of services is desired by either party.
The Cloud of the Future
Cloud computing is a fairly complex topic and we’ll continue these discussions here at Sevenforty. The future of software and application development will inevitably bring the ‘cloud’ into the equation for most businesses and end users. The idea of paying for software access rather than ownership is not necessarily a new concept – renting vs buying. The personal use markets are already seeing large growth in these directions with commodities such as music offering more and more cloud services. Many customers are turning toward ‘renting’ the access to music libraries, such as Spotify and Pandora, rather than purchasing music to own directly as with iTunes.
There is no one right answer; the decision to rent vs buy is dependent on many variables. Some businesses would prefer to maintain tight control over the entire technology package due to sensitive data concerns while others need to free up time maintaining mundane technology services in order to focus on other aspects of the business. Sevenforty is committed to developing applications that are cross-platform ready. We already work with many of our customers, developing hosted application environments and using cloud technology. Give us a call and let’s discuss how we can streamline your data driven needs!
What are your thoughts?
How do you envision your business’ future technology ventures? Will you be looking at ways to cut costs, turning to the ideas of ‘cloud computing’? Or, are you still concerned over data security and holding off for a while?
