Cloud computing doesn't necessarily save money

According to the "2009 IT Decision-makers Key Survey" report, cloud computing (CloudComputing) and derivative software-as-a-service (SaaS) help companies reduce the cost of information investment, with 10.13% of companies surveyed said they will introduce the project in 2009. Technical services, but does cloud computing really help companies resist the economic downturn? At the same time, the rise of cloud computing has also attracted the attention of hackers. According to security vendor AppRiver, cloud computing may set off a wave of hacking attacks in 2009. Faced with the economic downturn and the threat of security, how should enterprises grasp the future IT construction in the era of cloud computing?

Who needs cloud computing more?

According to the content revealed by relevant media and software and hardware vendors, cloud computing can be simply divided into two types: infrastructure and application services. For the former, only enterprises that must process large amounts of data at the same time in a very short time, such as Google, need to deploy a cloud computing architecture that can achieve parallel computing; as of today, many software and hardware vendors have been active in these enterprises. Showcase the products and services they offer.

The latter refers to network application services such as architecture-as-a-service (IaaS), SaaS and platform-as-a-service (PaaS) that help companies reduce operating costs, such as Amazom's EC2, Google's Google.doc, and IBM's on-demand Management services (OnDemandManaged Services, ODMS), Microsoft's Dynamics CRM and Salesforce's Salesforce.com, etc., many companies in Taiwan began to perform daily operations through the above network application services, such as replacing some OfficeSystem with GoogleDoc;

Can companies really enjoy SaaS without pain?

The high cost of transfer will affect the willingness of enterprises to choose cloud computing services. Cloud computing services may help companies reduce the cost of information operations, such as eliminating the cost of operation and maintenance systems and data centers, but only if the company has solved network bandwidth, security protection, regulatory requirements and changes in employee habits. "The original intention of applications such as SaaS is very good, but the key is whether it is easy to use," said an information worker who did not want to be named.

"How software and hardware manufacturers distinguish between OnPremise business and IaaS, SaaS and Paas services will affect the transfer cost of enterprises," said Weng Weixi, senior industry analyst and senior manager of MIC MIC. The difference in the proportion of vendors offering on-demand services, such as Oracle, SAP, and Microsoft, on OnPremise and on-demand services, the availability and reliability of on-demand services will affect the enterprise. The willingness to use the on-demand service.

Hacking, cloud security needs to be solved

Enterprise databases have always been the primary goal of hackers attempting to obtain personal information from users, while job sites and social networking sites have become potential targets. This is not surprising, as these sites hold a large amount of information about members, and this trend will intensify in 2009. Now, hackers have begun to gain personal information by attacking Facebook and LinkedIn. Touchette expects hackers to look for more targets this year.

AppRiver senior security analyst FredTouchette said that the economic downturn has made companies need emerging technologies to help them cut costs, so companies are at greater risk of hacking.

In short, unless providers of cloud computing and cloud services can help companies reduce the risks they may face in importing cloud computing (services), cloud computing (services) may not be a good medicine for companies that want to reduce operating costs.