Time to believe in Private Clouds

Information Week April 13, 2009

This article takes us to the next step in emerging technologies as outlined in chapter 5 of the book. Cloud computing appears to be the next big advancement in technology integration. The focus of this article is how many companies are eager to utilize the cloud computing concept for their own business enhancement. Companies like Salesforce.com have shown that using cloud computing as an IT infrastructure can work so many companies are taking a look at how to adapt it to their business models.
The advantages of cloud computing are significant to a company. The fast increase in computing power and communications speed has allowed the concept to grow into a viable IT resource. The concern that companies have with the cloud concept is sharing the data storage with the many other clients of the cloud. Data security of any company is critical to the success of the company. Trusting data storage and security to another company as the primary caretaker of the data can be difficult, especially if the service is priced so low.
That being the case, many companies are looking into the concept of private clouds where they can have customized software operate in a cloud environment with their own servers and security systems in place. This seems to make the data managers of the company feel more comfortable with control of the data. While private clouds might make sense for the sharing of customized software, thinking that private clouds will enhance data security is a false sense of security. I say this because I suspect a company that is offering cloud computing resources will be much more diligent and have more resources to maintain security in a cloud environment. I believe this because they have a much more vested interest in maintaining their reputation in order to stay in business. This reputation is much more important to a company who’s business is cloud computing than to a company who just utilizes the capability therefore the motivation of the specialty company would be higher and more likely to focus resources on their security as a core business.