Building trust between cloud providers and consumers

March 4, 2013 Off By David
Object Storage

Grazed from ComputerWorld. Author: Editorial Staff.

This vendor-written tech primer has been edited by Network World to eliminate product promotion, but readers should note it will likely favor the submitter’s approach. In a recent report, analyst Ray Wang proposes a cloud consumer ‘bill of rights.’ Wang’s proposal is important because it highlights significant aspects of the client/vendor relationship in the cloud computing space. This relationship is unique because of the level of both trust and communication that must exist between client and vendor in order for cloud deployments to be successful.

Enterprises that have, or are considering, the move to cloud computing should understand that they are not simply purchasing a specific product or service. Rather, they are entering into a partnership with their cloud provider. An enterprise’s cloud provider becomes an extension of the enterprise IT department. As a result, the vendor should be considered a trusted partner. In order for this to happen, both client and vendor must commit to communication and transparency that is generally foreign to the purchase of on-premise IT solutions…

The emergence and explosive growth of cloud computing represents a fundamental shift in how IT services are developed and delivered. Cloud computing offers incredible benefits ranging from reduced cost to improved user experience. These benefits are largely realized from increased efficiency, streamlined system upgrades, reduced system deployment and configuration time, significant flexibility, and control over how and when resources are utilized. This emergence also introduces new, but not necessarily additional, risks that managers must consider when evaluating cloud services and vendors. Questions regarding security, data ownership, and reliability are at the top-of-mind for CIOs and other technical managers, as well they should be…

Read more from the source @ http://news.idg.no/cw/art.cfm?id=0B0ED0FC-0396-2EAF-3A10770143E2A648