Outsourcing networks can save firms money - Hawaii Business

Technology is replete with buzzwords, and one of the most popular nowadays is "cloud computing." What exactly does this mean and why should you care? First off the definition: Cloud computing means getting your computer resources - software and applications, etc.

[Jason Kokaaina]

This is all fine - assuming the company at the other end running the cloud system:
a) doesn't go out of business
b) doesn't have problems and shuts you off for days
c) provides decent security
d) the internet doesn't go down, which happens here with disturbing frequency
Also, remember what happened at T-Mobile recently where people lost their data and phone use for several weeks.
Not a good article. Very one-sided.

[cruiselady]

Cloud computing is just the latest in the internet hype.

Promoters of the concept continue to fail to address privacy, security, backup, and recovery concerns. The internet is still an unsecured network.

One need only look at online storage sites and read about the horror stories encountered. TMobile customers lost their contacts list because a vendor's hardware crashed and there was no backups to recover from.

Your IT network and the information stored on it is a vital asset of your company. How many businesses can survive a day, week, or month if their computer network is not available?

Outsourcing means you give up control and you turn it over to others who don't share your mission or goals.

[alice]

very true

[Mike Meyer - Islanda Tech]

Jason Kokaaina wrote:

This is all fine - assuming the company at the other end running the cloud system:
a) doesn't go out of business
b) doesn't have problems and shuts you off for days
c) provides decent security
d) the internet doesn't go down, which happens here with disturbing frequency
Also, remember what happened at T-Mobile recently where people lost their data and phone use for several weeks.
Not a good article. Very one-sided.

Just thought I would mention that these are totally expected objections. The use of standard virtualization, i.e. VMware ESX 4.0 is designed for backup and disaster recover. You can request an image for off site storage of all of your virtual machines which can be easily and very quickly loaded on any other VMware server cluster. This already puts you well ahead of almost all small businesses and most medium ones.
There is a part 2 of this article planned which will cover how to select and evaluate a Cloud Provider for outsourcing.

[larkinvain]

@Jason
1. This can be true for any business. Take car companies for example. If they went out of business where would car dealerships be. The best thing for local businesses is to address this issue with their cloud provider. Do this with a local provider will give you better access and control and the cloud provider should be able to give you plan handing back data in the event of going out business or whatnot. If they don't you should look for a different provider.

2. Again this is where you ask your provider what kind of backup plans to they have. Are they in a datacenter with redundant connections or in the closet of some office. If it's the later find someone else. Going local also helps as you can physically visit the providers hardware etc.

3. See number one. Make sure your providers uses business level security devices like Cisco VPNs to ensure secure transmission of your data. Serious cloud providers will use serious hardware. This is where homework is important.

4. Last I check T-mobile didn't guarantee any backup of my data or contacts.(I'm a tmo customer) Serious cloud computing providers will have a backup and restoration plan. There's technology out there that makes restoration very quick and addresses these issues.

While you may think the article is one side, if you do some real research you all your is issues can be addressed and covered if you went with the right provider. A business should do research though. The technology is there.

@cruiselady
Cloud computing is more than hype. If you did some research you should know all the issues of backup, security, privacy and recovery can all be dealt with. It just up to the provider. If the cloud provider is serious about they will have solutions to all your concerns. If your idea of cloud computing is what you see with sites like google apps or go tomypc, there's a whole world of technology that you need to explore.

Bottom line is the technology is there and is being used by large companies. Smaller business just need to do their homework and choose the right provider that addresses all their concerns.

To point out your concerns as if there were no solution to them is very one sided in my opinion.

[Mike Meyer - Islanda Tech]

cruiselady wrote:

Cloud computing is just the latest in the internet hype.
Promoters of the concept continue to fail to address privacy, security, backup, and recovery concerns. The internet is still an unsecured network.
One need only look at online storage sites and read about the horror stories encountered. TMobile customers lost their contacts list because a vendor's hardware crashed and there was no backups to recover from.
Your IT network and the information stored on it is a vital asset of your company. How many businesses can survive a day, week, or month if their computer network is not available?
Outsourcing means you give up control and you turn it over to others who don't share your mission or goals.

The rapid virtualization of IT infrastructure is driven by very significant cost savings, improved efficiency and energy conservation. These are not small issues in our current economic and environmental situation. The importance of full Cloud outsourcing is in bringing improved efficiency and security to smaller businesses. Cloud services are installed with fully encrypted Virtual Private Network access and we recommend (and can provide) dual Internet connections (one wired and one wireless)for fail proof connectivity. We specifically deal with all of the issues raised as those are issues that can only be dealt with economically for smaller businesses by Cloud outsourcing.

[Mike Meyer - Islanda Tech]

For more information on the future of IT outsourcing see www.islandatech.com .