Still worried about choosing a cloud computing service provider? Five major indicators to help you!

In the more and more intense cloud computing field, more and more service providers are emerging, dazzling, as CIOs how to distinguish between true and false, choose suitable for the enterprise's service provider/solution, there are many problems to consider, However, in this article by the Industry transfer box TechTarget senior IT managers unanimously recommended five major issues for CIOs to guide the maze.

Data consolidation

Because of the lack of long-term strategic planning, many enterprises have a great misunderstanding of the "cloud", many enterprises just use historical mail migration to test load balancing, but ignore more important things, such as the type of cloud, the cloud type is divided into public cloud, private cloud, mixed cloud, And the enterprise's background data How to combine with the cloud effective integration, these are enterprises in the use of "cloud" should be taken into account

"In the early days, the cloud meant you enjoyed the service and the functionality was there," said Jeff Kaplan, general manager of Strategies, a network consulting firm named Think. Now, the cloud can also be deployed in your private network, "he said, while using the cloud, make sure there is enough flexibility to trim where and how the cloud is deployed."

Most cloud vendors offer a very simple service. Kaplan said: "Those who have just become famous for the cloud are only providing web-based remote services, and cannot be configured behind the firewall." Others have packaged the traditional solutions that they have been selling as cloud peddling. "However, the vendors that really meet the needs of the enterprise should be able to provide both private and public clouds, as well as the use of various cloud applications to integrate various heterogeneous systems in the data center."

It is based on the understanding of this integration needs, IBM recently acquired a leading enterprise in the industry, Cast Iron System company. The company is renowned for offering data applications based on private/public cloud to Dow Jones, Time Warner, etc.

Almost at the same time, Abiquo released a management-adaptive cloud management solution based on open standards. This technology supports virtual applications, which can be configured into production environments with simple drag-and-drop.

Abiquo's program was unanimously praised at the recent New York Cloud Computing Fair: "This is the right direction," says Kevin jackson-, director of research and Development at the Defense Technology Provider NJVC LLC.

Compliance Compliance

As regulatory requirements become more stringent, you must determine whether the vendor's cloud plan is compliant. In the case of the financial/healthcare industry, the specification for compliance has PCI DSS (US payment card Industry data security standards), HIPAA (Health Insurance Liquidity and Accountability Act), and FISMA (Federal Information Security Management Act). However, suppliers need compliance, your business needs to meet the requirements, the two are not linked.

Tonya Hongsermeier said HIPAA stipulated that "If you suspect the data is wrong, you must notify the patient". She is the chief information officer of Bostonpartners Healthcare Systems Inc. The company is building a cloud-based patient information database that is the basis for so-called humanistic medical treatment, which allows doctors to access relevant medical information throughout the country and to "find the most effective diagnostic information in the knowledge explosion", she said.

"I care about two points: legality and technical rationality," Hongsermeier continued, giving specific requirements: Audit metrics, identity authentication, information encryption/decryption, and repetitive consultation on patient data.

Hongsermeier finally said: "In order to achieve these we need to purchase the application of Third-party data, while the establishment of the connection of security certification." At this point we are still groping forward. ”

Performance Index

In the endless cost-cutting effort, suppliers are likely to make a fuss over the bandwidth of the IaaS service's "cloud" computing senior product manager of the planet company. Carl Meadows said: "Reducing bandwidth is like poison, short-term thirst, and long-term killing." ”

"The allocation of CPU and disk resources varies by cloud, and performance metrics vary." In order to select the right supplier, it is necessary for the enterprise to carry out independent testing in addition to obtaining as complete a document as possible. Based on the ' confidentiality agreement ', the physical network topology, power supply and storage system of the supplier are examined in detail, and there is a reliable connection between the hardware, network connection and the quality of its promised service. Meadows suggested.

Contract negotiation

The contract is always the key. In addition to clarifying the required "cloud" services, the contract also clarifies the conditions under which cooperation or replacement of suppliers can be legally terminated.

"When I'm satisfied I want to grip the toy in my hand and throw it away when I'm not happy," Mladen Vouk said. Vouk is deputy assistant to the Dean of North Carolina State University. "We practiced the cloud long before the cloud became popular," he continued. Vouk's team supports everything from IaaS, PAAs, and SaaS, or as long as it is easy to abstract into service. "And these aren't what independent software vendors like to do," he says.

Vouk Some analysts suggest that the exit strategy should be negotiated early in the exchange with suppliers, while avoiding the signing of long-term contracts, which are only good for suppliers. Do not involve large client (wholesale) contracts, but be sure to specify a specific service level agreement (SLA).

Physical security

While there are some very lightweight cloud services-such as filling out a form to schedule an online meeting-but facing critical applications or data stores, you need to prepare very sharp questions:

"What are their data centers like?" Are they willing to give you a chart demo? Is there a backup plan? What about security documents? Jessica Carroll to ask. Carroll is the IT general manager of the National Golf Association, which leverages the cloud to achieve business continuity and its information cooperation in 1,500 locations across the United States.

"Are there special conditions of entry?" After entrusting your most valuable data to others, do you want to see them locked and inaccessible? If the supplier answers positively, that's fine; otherwise I would hesitate to co-operate. "Carroll said.