Thursday, February 12, 2009

Cloud computing - Sizzle to Fizzle?

What is the #1 concern of IT pros regarding cloud computing? It's security. 53% of the folks who responded to the Information Week Analytics Cloud Computing Survey cited this as their #1 concern. The concern occupying the #2 and #3 spots? Performance (33%) and control (31%). Until these numbers get a lot closer to zero it is going to be difficult to achieve cloud lift-off.

As pointed out in the article:
18 percent of the 456 business technology professionals surveyed said they were using cloud services, compared with 34 percent who have no interest. More than half said they are very concerned about security, with performance, control, and concerns over vendor lock-in and support rounding out the top five worries.
The security, performance and control concerns have to be alleviated. If not, then I think we're looking at another one of those groundhog day type moments: "It's the year of cloud computing!"

Know what I mean?

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2 comments:

ftack said...

Hi Jackson,

I work for www.nomadesk.com, which offers easy and secure file sharing, wherever you are. I read your post on cloud computing and security with great interest and just wanted to add NomaDesk to the mix.

NomaDesk, trusted by mobile (“nomadic”) businesses for several years now both in Europe and the U.S., is a hybrid of client and cloud based services.
NomaDesk works with a local client and allows access to your files from anywhere on the web. It includes an encrypted virtual drive that keeps your files securely available off-line and remote file shredding and IP-tracking with TheftGuard. Of course, we impose no limits on storage and bandwidth. A Mac version is on its way.

We have very good reasons to work with a local client that taps into the cloud:

(1) 100% availability of the data, regardless of network quality
(2) 100% performance when editing files, using any type of program
(3) 100% simplicity; just drag-n-drop files to synchronize and share them
(4) 100% security on the PC also: the virtual drives that NomaDesk creates on the PC are encrypted and can be shred remotely via our online TheftGuard service.

The bulk of our users, which are SOHO and SMB teams, appreciate the straightforward and secure file sharing they get through using the NomaDesk client software. You should know that in most cases NomaDesk replaces the traditional file server, FTP and VPN - with success!

Please let me know your thoughts.

Kind regards,
F.

Feb 13, 2009, 1:23:00 AM
Anonymous said...

Jackson,

These concerns are not necessarily real. People tend to overestimate the security and SLA level they have in house, and underestimate what external datacenters can provide.

See the latest IDC report calling Cloud security fears called overblown and 'emotional'.

Dmitry

Feb 21, 2009, 5:07:00 AM

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