Articles Posted in Cloud Computing

The rise of cloud computing services and the privacy/security issues involved have been much discussed (see, for example, our prior blog posts here). But when customers procure cloud-based services, a critical “behind the scenes” issue is often overlooked: is the cloud provider itself relying on third party subcontractors to perform critical functions? When these subcontractors are added to the mix, things become a bit more complicated.

Cloud computing offers a wide variety of services:

• IaaS: infrastructure as a service to replace a customer’s data center or testing environment;

In April, we wrote about what we were seeing in the cloud space, including the impact of cloud computing on the CIO agenda. Since then, Savvis published an independent survey of 550 CIOs and Senior IT personnel from large global enterprises concerning their IT outsourcing strategies, including those around cloud computing. We decided to take a look at how some of our personal experiences with cloud computing compared with the survey’s results. Spoiler alert: we weren’t far off.

We’ve seen: Some amount of talk, but not a great deal of action.

Savvis Survey Says: The industry generally agrees.

Want to learn more about the key areas customers should consider as part of their cloud computing due diligence exercise? Read my recent article on the topic here.

Not too long ago a major supplier asked us what we are seeing in the cloud space. We thought the interchange might be of interest to readers of the blog — so here are some selected questions and our responses.

What impact have you seen or expect to see Cloud will have on the CIO Agenda?

We’ve seen:

With cloud services now obtaining as much press as the fallout from Kim Kardashian’s wedding, it seems safe to say that clouds are likely to be in the business forecast for the foreseeable future.

A strong answer to every IT infrastructure manager’s prayers, cloud computing can provide both a scalable on-demand combination of hardware, software and services, as well as helping fulfill corporate/social mandates for becoming greener.

The people over at Carbon Disclosure Project decided to commission a study into the potential impact of cloud computing on large US businesses. Released in July 2011, the report was independently produced by Verdantix and sponsored by AT&T.

Given the great interest in “the cloud” from a business perspective, as well as Microsoft’s popularization of the concept with its “To the Cloud!” advertising campaign, it’s no wonder that many game providers are looking to the cloud as the next viable and profitable gaming platform. The cloud movement not only provides economic incentives through various subscription and pay-to-play models, but also helps defeat piracy by locking down game code and other intellectual property from potential thieves.

Cloud game providers have a lot to gain from virtualization, but moving to a cloud-based framework raises potential legal issues that should be considered.

LatencyThe first big issue for gaming providers considering moving to the cloud is both a practical one and a legal one – latency. Unlike digital downloads, streaming games require both down and upstream communications. Further, gaming often demands instant, real-time action, so any material latency will be noticed, especially for multi-player, FPS-type or other real-time games. Currently, some game providers have tried to satisfy gamers’ demand for real-time, low-latency play by operating in data centers that are physically close to the gamer. From a technical perspective, cloud gaming may present an issue because it could involve moving the game servers much farther away from the gamer, thus having the potential to lead to increased, or even significant latency. Another technical fix may be to use “tricks” similar to those used in non-cloud gaming to compensate for latency issues.

Cloud-based services give new meaning to the IT holy grail of “cheaper, better, faster” in the right circumstances. You might not even have to settle for just two. But it is important not to let the Cloud fog your thinking when it comes to configuring mission-critical IT-enabled services: adequate failover capabilities, and service levels that will support the operational imperatives of the business, are as important as ever.

It is typical, if not the norm, for Cloud service providers to offer only a single contractual service level – Availability – and then to define it in a way that wouldn’t pass the sniff test in a traditional IT services contract. For example, it is not unusual for a Cloud service’s Availability standard to be exceedingly low by customary data center standards – 98% or even 97% (versus 99.999% or even 99.9999%) – and then to make an already weak standard even weaker by contractual devices such as:

• Excluding downtime during the provider’s weekly maintenance window -which may span 2 days or more during the weekend, with no limit on how long the service can be taken down during that period,

Providers are rushing head-first into the cloud revolution, marketing their latest cloud offerings and promoting the benefits of hosting data externally.

To The Cloud–Start-up–Windows 7 by windows-videos

But as customers analyze whether the cloud is the right fit for their technology and data, they need to carefully review whether the contract terms proposed by cloud providers truly work “in the cloud.” Customers may discover that cloud providers simply have taken their existing standard licensing agreements for software hosted at the customer site (or at least large parts of their existing agreements), slapped the word “cloud” on the document, and voilà! A new cloud contract!