The GoPC.net Blog

Cloud computing is all about efficient IT infrastructure utilisation.

In traditional IT environments, we see a lot of isolated systems that are fairly similiar – ie a shared file (or data) server, a network, and some desktop clients. If you stand back from this, its actually inefficient. Those machines are often left running 24/7 – it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that there is a lot of idle computers (1E and Gartner hinted at a global cost in the billions in this report).

Another flaw in traditional IT environments is the lag time inherent in not having resources immediately available – a business has to balance maintaining a “buffer” of IT resources (staff, time and hardware) against the cost of those resources. Bernard Golden (Cloud computing will cause three IT revolutions [CIO.net]) talks about the frustration that users can feel when trying to get resources allocated (in addition to the culture shock that cloud computing is causing in the IT industry!).

A larger pool of resources is, in general, going to be easier to manage then a smaller pool. This is a basic resource management principle – matching resources to demands. The more efficiently that you can utilise those resources, the better off you will be (or so the theory goes!).

This leads to a natural “next step” of moving to shared physical resources. This is where cloud computing comes in – directly addressing the pain of matching IT resources availability to demand.

Dustin Amrhein has blogged about the ongoing argument of security in the cloud.

Security Isn’t the Biggest Obstacle of Cloud Computing
— Frankly I’ve grown weary of the debates over the security of cloud computing. It’s not that I don’t appreciate that there are technical hurdles in front of us, but we have reached a point that a security vulnerability in a single offering, whether that offering is in the public or private cloud, results in loads of silly commentary that links the particular problem to the overall state of cloud security. I’m not sure if those involved in this commentary have a vested interest in driving this kind of dialogue, or if it happens because it is easy to write about, but in either case a majority of the discussions around cloud security have degraded to pure absurdity.

I totally agree with this – while security cannot be downplayed, it is a well known fact that one of the biggest security risks comes from your own staff members.

The same companies complaining about cloud security are the ones letting employees walk out the door with 30m customer records on a usb stik – Reuven Cohen ( @ruv on twitter ) – Founder of Enomaly.

The internet is littered with references to how big a problem this is – from people walking out the door with USB sticks, laptops, harddrives etc, to out right malicious attacks. Businesses need to be aware that the biggest threat to their IT infrastructure is either themselves or their staff. The fact is, on any IT network, principles of multi-level security have to come into the equation. Corporate networks are starting to deploy solutions that compartmentalise different staff groups as if they were external ( and hostile! ) entities ( and rightly so! ).

The balance is between accessibility and security – businesses are going to want more mobile access to their data, and I would much prefer to access my data in the cloud, then have to hang on to a USB stick. ( Also, USB sticks tend to stuff up my washing machine, I’ve found ).

Chris Hoy Poy

Systems Architect