The impact of cloud services on data protection

Today's cloud has a lot of choices, regardless of which cloud service approach, there are data protection issues to consider.

First, let's clarify what we are talking about. Here are some definitions you need to know:

IaaS (Infrastructure-as-a-service-Infrastructure as a service) is a computing model where all devices, including servers, storage, and network components, are hosted by a service provider, and through the network-usually through the Internet-to customers. The service provider owns those devices and is responsible for installing, running, and maintaining them. In this model, cloud resources are virtual rather than physical and can be used on demand rather than limited to fixed contract terms. Payment mode is usually based on usage. IaaS users have no control over the underlying cloud technology.

PAAs (Platform-as-a-service-platform, or service) provides a platform and solution stack in the form of a service. End users rely on PAAs to build and deploy Web applications or services that can be used on a network, usually the Internet. Essentially, PAAs provides the ability to build or deploy applications based on IaaS.

SaaS (Software-as-a-service-Software as a service) is a software distribution model that is administered by a vendor or service provider and is provided to customers via the network-usually the Internet. SaaS customers outsource the entire underlying technology architecture to a SaaS provider and have no administrative authority over the SaaS base IT components.

A study by ESG (Enterprise strategy Group) found that 82% of the respondents planned to use cloud-based services over the next 5 years. However, the accepted cloud implementation model is different. Today, only SaaS is used to significantly exceed the 5:1 ratio of only using IaaS. Although the current use of SaaS is very limited in most companies, the situation is expected to change dramatically over the next 36 months. Specifically, although only 28% of companies now offer more than 20% applications through SaaS, nearly Two-thirds (59%) of companies expect SaaS to provide 20% of the applications used before 3721.html ">2014 years."

When the enterprise from the "buy" mode to "Rent" mode, there is the problem of data protection. Traditional site-application deployments mean that IT departments are responsible for their infrastructure-and the necessary human, process, and technology to achieve redundancy and recovery to meet the service-level terms of application and data (Sla,service-level agreements).

For example, moving from one station of exchange implementation to Google Gmail, or choosing salseforce.com to replace a Microsoft Dynamic CRM in the station, can reduce the overhead of the site's solution. Remove backup servers, storage, backup software licenses, and mobile media, which are only part of the overhead associated with moving to the cloud. Removing the cost of operating and time savings from high availability, backup/recovery, and disaster recovery processes can be significant, depending on the size of the scenario. In fact, these savings are enough to affect the company's decision to outsource.

That said, there are other factors to consider. In particular, can service providers meet SLAs as well as internal solutions/personnel/processes? How much service time can they guarantee? Is there any guarantee that they will be satisfied? How often are backups generated? How long is the copy kept? If the service level cannot be satisfied, what is the approach?

In answering these questions, a similar tenant, a technology that protects data from cross access, encrypts and avoids unauthorized data access, can be a bit reassuring. But apparently many IT pros still don't believe it's safe to keep company data outside of the company's firewall.

In the coming years, the cloud service model is certainly destructive to the existing system. Companies that advocate high risk and high returns are already testing the way the water is deployed. Those who accept slower companies may experiment with less risky or strategically unimportant applications. Surprisingly, according to ESG Research, customer Relationship Management (CRM) software and e-mail are the two applications that companies are most willing to try when they try SaaS, which is the company's most critical productivity system.

Finally, it employees may have no choice. Recent ESG research has shown that the most powerful SaaS advocates within the company are those who are not senior or business unit leaders. More than 40% per cent of respondents feared that the decision to use an alternative delivery model was based on business considerations-or at least affected. That means there will be constant pressure to look at cloud services to reduce spending, although concerns about data protection remain. Data storage managers, however, must work with their platforms and service providers to ensure that data protection issues are answered.

TechTarget Chinese original content, original link: http://www.searchstorage.com.cn/showcontent_58281.htm

(Responsible editor: Lu Guang)