their information protection one provider to another? to money if they don’t man-
31
policy is – and furthermore, This is probably the most age to keep to the service lev-
you should audit them on it. important question – cur- els. However, as the anony-
P
Do they encrypt their backup rently there are loads of mous quote goes “Service
ERSP
tapes? Do they have polices service providers, and the Level Agreements: The fastest
and applications to prevent prices are falling all the way to make lawyers rich”, ECTIVES CL
information being copied to time, so you might think this why, because it doesn’t guar-
laptops, CDs, DVDs, USB is the equivalent of ‘open antee to get your business
sticks, iPods etc? What do systems’ – and in some ways back up and running – just to
they do to delete or destroy it is, lots of ‘openness’ but pay you compensation, by
data when it is no longer actually, once you are com- which time you could be out
OUD COMPUTING
needed? mitted to one provider you of business.
are locked in.
Are you ok with co-location – This is just as true for applica-
what does the third party do So, the question you need to tions you are relying on out in
to separate information and ask is – how do I get ALL my the cloud – what if your email
systems? data out and copied over to a was down for a week (this
Could a competitor, who is new provider? Some providers actually happened to one
also using the service, possi- are more flexible than others service provider recently), or
bly get their hands on your and help you in the process – if your web was out of action?
data? In the cloud, where vir- others will make you pay by Would your customers under-
tualisation rules supreme, the gigabyte and have to stand or would they go else-
you don’t know if your data is download it back to your where? A week is a long time
on the same storage device, servers before uploading it to when your competitors are
or your application is on the the new service provider! only a click away.
same server! Sometimes, ‘cheap’ can come
back to bite you. Storage, applications, security
What happens in the event all are making their way into
of data corruption? Finally, will you be relying on ‘the cloud’, and there are
How many copies of the data Service Level Agreements huge business benefits to be
does the third party have – (SLA) to get you out of trou- had by using them, but you
can you go back through the ble? In essence a SLA is the need to be aware of the
backups for the last week, contract, when it comes to threats, risks and conse-
month, quarter to find an performance, between you quences before diving in –
uncorrupted copy – or do they and the third party. They tend and ask the right questions.
just have a single copy? to ensure uptime numbers Forewarned is forearmed.
and outage periods and there
How easy is it to move from is some remediation relating www.symanec.com
A week is a long time when your
competitors are only a click away.
Storage, applications, security all are
making their way into ‘the cloud’, and
there are huge business benefits to be
had by using them
WWW.SNSEUROPE.COM FEB 09
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