The cloud - too good to be true?

Is my data safe?
Will my applications be available when I need them?
Can my system be compromised?
Can I control access?

Why bother about all these questions? Below are some headlines.....

•  Microsoft’s Windows Azure cloud suffered a 2.5 hour outage in Europe last Thursday..
• An outage of Amazon’s ec2  in North Virginia has taken down Netflix, Pinterest, Instagram, and other services. Amazon indicates that there are power issues in its North Virginia data center, most likely caused by severe storms in the region. That came just two weeks after another significant outage in the same U.S. East data center....
• Twitter’s down … and it has cost the economy $1 billion already? (Twitter returned to fully-operational status at about 9:30am Pacific time, after about 45 minutes offline.)

 Bottom line is , is the cloud ready to welcome us?

While the cloud offers amazing advantages such as cost efficiencies ( bring down capital expenses by eliminating the need to purchase hardware), better speed to market ( businesses can provision and implement a cloud solution in a fraction of the time), resource efficiencies ( reduce need for software and hardware management), stories about cloud outages continue to make the headlines….

So what can we do to eliminate the risk? Well we can’t….the cloud is not “one-size-fits-all.” Risk cannot be 100% eliminated. However, it can be minimized to a level that is acceptable for a given business.

Below are some recommendations:

1)     Choose your vendor well ! cloud is cool and there are a multitude of start-up firms offering their services. Think of how destructive it could be to your business operations to have your cloud vendor disappear! Think long term and  choose a firm of proven history, financial strength, and success.

2)     Ask for Guaranteed capacity. One of the greatest benefits of cloud computing is its elasticity – that capacity can be expanded and contracted on-demand. However cloud providers often overbook and can’t accommodate extra capacity! Ask for  a service level agreement (SLA) that will articulate how much added capacity is guaranteed to be available for periods of peak usage.

3)     Guaranteed availability. A company’s business will grind to a halt if connections to the cloud are severed. Therefore, it is vital that a vendor provide an SLA guaranteeing availability, reliability, and redundancy.  At least you get your money back in case of a major problem!

4)     Guaranteed storage. Managed storage is a must, with integrated backup and restore capabilities. Or get your data backed up with a different cloud provider!

Are we romanced by the opportunities of the cloud? is the cloud too good to be true? Maybe or maybe not but the point is, when it comes to put our business on the cloud, we need to choose our cloud solution with intelligence.

For more information on cloud safety read  : https://rapidrequest.emediausa.com/4/?14216014.EULHCXIT.124824