CLOUDY.
WITH A CHANCE OF COMPUTING.
BY JOE DYSART
Here are some considerations before you move all your apps
and data into the online clouds
loud computing matter where they are in the world. and Yale are looking for new approaches to
C
is a new approach to Service fees for working in the cloud large-scale data analysis. And the University
IT in which all uni- are oft en based on a reasonable, me- of California-Santa Barbara is investigating
versity applications tered plan. If your college requires just how computing in the cloud can eff ectively
and data are moved a smidgeon of computing time, that’s answer complex search engine questions
to the web. While all you’ll pay for. If you need a little requiring access to extremely large datasets.
higher education is more, you pay a little more. Very fair. Other universities involved in cloud
abuzz with the promise of cloud comput- computing research include Florida Inter-
ing, many industry insiders warn the strat- Many navigators are available national University, Purdue, University of
egy is fraught with peril. Some of the biggest guns in the business are California-Irvine, University of Califor-
Skeptics say colleges and universities more than ready to help you navigate your nia-San Diego, University of Maryland,
who rely on remote, web-based solutions way through the cloud. IBM rolled out University of Massachusetts, University of
providers for so much are simply asking for its Smart Business cloud portfolio in June. Virginia, University of Washington, and
trouble. Specifi cally, there are data safety, Microsoft responded in July with a sneak University of Utah.
identity safety, and downtime to consider. peak at its forthcoming Windows Azure Still, out there in the mist, the naysay-
“As a security guy, I tend to look at the idea platform for cloud computing. A number ers persist. “Th ere are plenty of positive
of cloud computing from a risk perspective,” of other heavy hitters, including Google, things that cloud computing provides, but
says Kai Axford, a senior security strategist
Salesforce.com,
Amazon.com, Intuit, at what cost?” says Microsoft ’s Axford. “I’ll
at Microsoft . “I have to tell you, I don’t see a Hewlett Packard and Cisco have been in- take the extra time to patch my enterprise’s
lot of companies agreeing to become liable volved in the market even longer. “Cloud is servers if it means keeping my data close.”
if your data gets breached on their network.” an important new consumption and deliv-
Cloud computing does seem to live up ery model for IT and business services,” says Bottom line: before you launch your in-
to its “breath-of-fresh-air” marketing. Uni- Erich Clementi, a general manager at IBM. stitution into an unfamiliar stratosphere,
versity staff ers working in the cloud will be Th rough a number of research initia- industry insiders recommend you ask your-
able to access all their computing the same tives, academia is actively pushing the limits self—and your potential cloud solutions
way many of them now log into Microsoft ’s of cloud computing as well. Earlier this year, provider—these tough questions:
Hotmail for messages, stop by YouTube to the National Science Foundation awarded
catch a video or two, or visit Google Docs nearly $5 million in grants to 14 universities Is the Cloud Really Less Expen-
online word processor to jot down a few under the IBM/Google Cloud Computing sive? While cost reduction is one reason
thoughts. University Initiative. most oft en cited for moving to the Cloud,
Essentially, all employees using the Carnegie-Mellon, for example, is at- a McKinsey study released earlier this year
cloud can instantly access online apps and tempting to more eff ectively process web found that for large organizations with rev-
data using a wide array of internet devices— searches. Massachusetts Institute of Tech- enue in excess of $500 million, cloud com-
desktops, laptops, PDAs, smart phones, no nology, University of Wisconsin-Madison puting actually costs more.
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