Cloud computing is one of the newer terms being bantered about in technology circles so the question might logically arise, what does it mean for business? As the name cloud might imply, cloud computing has to do with a large and undefined mass; in this case application services involving a mass of computers and networks.

Most people probably don’t ever think about it but it takes all kinds of computing services to perform such things as a Google search or to peruse items on Amazon. The idea with cloud computing is to extend that model. For business it could mean outsourcing the responsibility of running the complex infrastructure of applications and data to some company or group of companies that already has a lot invested in running infrastructure?

One naturally first asks what problem cloud computing solves. Medium and large businesses are familiar with the answer: proprietary data processing, storage, and management is an enormous and complex burden and cost. To further confuse things, laws like the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 have created business and accounting rules which in turn require executive involvement in a company’s technology efforts, including disaster recovery plans, backup plans, data retention plans and strategy for technology refresh, among others.

Print this story Email this story Post a Comment ADVERTISEMENT

Each year, data stores balloon in size at an ever increasing pace. Facing this and a relentless torrent of new data each year, many companies are watching to see how they might be able to unload this burden on a silvery cloud of services provided by someone else.

Wiping their collective brow, I suspect many companies would be happy to pare down their jargon-spewing IT staff and just write a check.

All things have trade-offs and cloud computing is no exception.

Benefits include outsourced services from the ether. But one detriment is potential “lock-in” to the provider. Right now, there are no open standards for data migration between providers though that has at least been brought up recently.

Beyond the ability to move data between providers, prospective cloud computing customers would be limited to whatever services are offered by their provider at its discretion and on its timetable. Some see this as a loss of freedom and a throwback to the mainframe days.

Other worrying things to consider include the lack of visibility regarding how security and data separation are maintained within the cloud. Normally, businesses take great pains to ensure their data remain private and inviolate for both legal and competitive reasons. It gets even stickier when one thinks through the fact that many cloud computing operations work across geographical borders where different legal rules apply.

Finally, in spite of the goal of off-loading the IT burden, it is ultimately the responsibility of each business to understand and control its own data including where it is, who can access it, how it’s separated, how long it would take to get back online after a disaster, and what would happen if a provider should go out of business.

Of course, there is no rule saying a business has to use cloud computing on an all-or-nothing basis. In fact, if it seems attractive for your business, I would recommend a pilot with one aspect of your business data which is particularly well-suited for the cloud.

As with any type of gamble, do not bet more than you can stand to lose. In the meantime, cloud computing data migration standards appear to be slowly evolving amongst the larger players in an effort to present an attractive proposition to large businesses. Stay tuned.

Contact Lee LeClair, a founder and chief technology officer of Ephibian, through the company’s website www.ephibian.com or (520) 917-4747. Ephibian, headquartered at 3180 N. Swan Road, provides software development, data integration and Web design services. LeClair’s Tech Talk column appears the third week of each month in Inside Tucson Business.