Cloud computing: High, beautiful and dangerous

As an emerging technology that promises to slash costs, cloud computing is increasingly being pursued by a host of companies. But do these companies really understand the true nature of the ambiguous concept of cloud computing?

Cloud computing allows companies to outsource parts of computer processing (sometimes almost all). In the eyes of CIOs, companies pay to external providers without having to spend money on internal servers and on IT professionals needed to overhaul the servers. The company can then access the computing infrastructure via the Internet (in it jargon, "through the Cloud environment").

Even better, cloud services providers tell us that cloud computing can scale up massively. A large provider can quickly meet online customers ' requests for more computing capabilities. That way, small companies without large data centers can take advantage of the powerful processing capabilities of cloud computing service providers.

The big vendors saw the treasure and set up departments to provide cloud computing services. Industry leaders include Amazon's EC2 and Google's app engine (Google Apps Engine). When the market was excited, a batch of acronyms sprang up. The "close relatives" of cloud computing are software as services (SaaS), where software is provided via the Internet; Salesforce.com is another cloud computing that is advertised as a platform, a service (PaaS).

Nick Carr, an IT expert, hailed cloud computing as the inevitable next step in the business computing World in his book The Great Shift. He explained that, as we now get electricity from the huge power plants outside, we can get computing from the widely distributed external processing centers in the future. The messy internal data center is gone forever. The future is bright, order orderly, reasonable price.

But if you look at the difference between electricity and data, you'll find that the metaphor of Carr is untenable. The electricity delivered to your company is not confidential or sensitive, and data entering or leaving your company may contain extremely sensitive information. Simply mentioning the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the intricacies of compliance requirements is enough for some CIOs to be alarmed by handing over their document management, even part of the responsibility, to cloud-computing service providers.

What makes these CIOs even more scary is the disturbing fact that as cloud-based services grow, it will increasingly be supplied by a chain of providers. So this happens: you sign a contract with a subcontractor who contracts with a chain of subcontractors, and the subcontractor contracts with other businesses. As a result, the most valuable company confidential data that you end up with is the provider you know nothing about. It's like the school queen doesn't want to give out her phone number, only to tell her sweetheart who has established a relationship: The captain of the rugby team, and her boyfriend posted her address book on Facebook, so that someone with ulterior motives knows her phone number.

Jay Heiser and Mark Nicolett, Gartner's two-member analyst, jointly wrote "Assessing the security risks of cloud computing," a report that lists many of the risk factors for cloud computing.

The topic they want to convey is not to suggest that companies do not use cloud computing. To be precise, companies need to keep their eyes open when using cloud computing, fully understand the risks involved, and take the necessary precautions to ensure security, or to ensure security, because cloud computing has a "black box" of the nature, full of unknown factors.

Heiser said: "If people are not concerned about the risk, cloud computing is probably more popular." I think most potential users are not really aware of the risks involved. They all intuitively feel that this is a new technology and should not be treated lightly. ”

Indeed, Goldman Sachs recently surveyed CIOs ' plans for the 2009, and they feel uneasy about next year's economic situation. The findings are not a good omen for cloud computing services: Less than 2% of respondents have prioritized cloud computing.

The many security issues with cloud computing are enough to raise the question: Can't we continue to use that traditional and reliable client/server architecture? After all, the price of the server is going down all the way, and there's no stopping it, and it employees in the maintenance business are unlikely to get a ridiculously high salary. Why seek outside help?

Despite these suspicions, Heiser, the cloud computing trend does have the potential to change the industry. The train has sailed away from the station, although CIOs have been spooked by the economic downturn. In short, cloud computing can significantly save costs, significantly improve efficiency and flexibility, and the advantages are so obvious that people can't ignore it.

Heiser said: "Cloud computing is basically economically viable, but there are convenience issues." ”

"There is a control problem. I classify cloud computing with consumerism as another example of how end users can take the initiative from the IT department. If they don't like the programs offered by the IT department, they go out and buy them themselves. "For example," the sales manager, who wants to get rid of IT departments and deploy CRM on its own, has greatly facilitated the rapid development of salesforce.com. ”

In addition, the purchase of cloud computing services is more desirable than a server that begins to age when it is purchased and unpacked. Heiser said: "If you buy cloud computing services, it only takes a small amount of money." If you buy something like a computer, it's a big investment. ”

"So it's equally expensive, but different in nature; people like to spend money on big things." ”

"Edit Recommendation"