[Gllug] Cloud computing ( was Re: Linux Petition )

[JLMS]

On 22 April 2012 22:17, Andy Millar <andy at andymillar.co.uk> wrote:
>> > I know my employers would be reluctant to look at using google
>> > calendar as they'll be concerned about confidential
>> > data/meetings/shared documents being on a system outside of our own
>> > control, but I'm sure this is more to do with perception and adapting to
>> change.
>>
>> The same thing could be said of any part of a business using 'cloud' services.
>
> And, quite frankly, should be.
>
> Andy

Well, that is going to change, so better one jumps now into the bandwagon.

All major companies (Oracle, Microsoft, Red Hat, Amazon)  are pushing
very decisively  on the direction of cloud nirvana.

All of them are mindful of the obvious concerns of seasoned technical
people, their bosses and lawmakers, right now at least Red Hat knows
they should do something about where your data stays in order to
comply with the respective legislation, I think Amazon is going that
way as well and I would be shocked if the others are not working about
this, Oracle is shamelessly talking about Solaris 11 as a "cloud
computing" operating system (and the revamping of their network
management utilities plus solid virtualization and storage management,
i.e. ZFS, would indicate they are serious about it and have the tools
to deliver).

The question is: if all your data and communications are properly
secured (encrypted disks in Red Hat, Solaris work quite well for
example, and with SSDs and forever more powerful machines the
traditional technical penalties for encrypting are becoming less of an
issue), what exactly would be wrong with having your data in the so
called cloud?

Many companies have all or part of their IT infrastructure in somebody
else's datacentre already and they are escalating from nought to
millions of users in the comfort of scalable hosting services provided
by somebody like Amazon, so you are going to get more and more Sys
Admins, middle managers and bean counters that will be familiar and
comfortable with this way of working (and lets face it: who really
wants the mess of dealing with a data centre if your core business is
something else entirely different?)

I think the writing is in the wall, the next set of skills one will
need to have is familiarity with how to work with hosts (physical and
virtual) that are located goodness knows where ensuring the safety of
the data being handled...
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