technology: the cloud 13 Stories from the cloud
Ancoris, the Bracknell-based cloud services provider and Google premier enterprise partner, has announced a partnership with Softwatch to provide a service to monitor the actual usage of Microsoft Office by user or department.
The idea is to see whether companies can save money by moving from Office to Google cloud applications. SoftWatch says most Office users are light users “enabling organisations to make an effective decision to migrate to Google Apps and significantly reduce Microsoft licensing spending”.
Details:
www.ancoris.com
The recent high-profile closure of 2e2, whilst not primarily a cloud service, should serve as a lesson in best practice for end users when contracting for cloud services and selecting a Cloud Service Provider (CSP). Ultimately, CSPs are not insurers of a customer’s business, warns the Cloud Industry Forum (CIF), but that doesn’t mean parties should enter into agreements unaware of each other’s responsibilities, or without clarification as to how a relationship ends at a practical level, regardless of cause.
Commenting on the case, Andy Burton, chair of the CIF, said that whilst 2e2 is not a CSP, it operated in an outsourced/managed service model which has similar business model parallels to a CSP and therefore the shock of its seemingly sudden and very public failure causes pause for thought, so that the issue is not seen out of context and lessons are learned.
Details:
www.cloudindustryforum.org
Almost half of IT experts are deterred from keeping sensitive data in the cloud because of fear of government intervention and possible legal action, according to a new survey from Lieberman Software.
The survey, which looked at IT and cloud experts’ attitudes to storing data in the cloud, revealed that government and legal interference puts 48% of them off from entering the cloud environment. These figures highlight that IT managers are deterred from the cloud, because they are unsure if their organisation’s sensitive data is adequately protected and will therefore pass IT security audits or indeed government regulatory checks which hosted cloud environments are subjected to.
Details:
www.liebesoft.com
NewVoiceMedia, the Basingstoke-based leading provider of true cloud contact centre and voice solutions, has been awarded a place on the UK government’s G-Cloud ii framework for specialist cloud services hosting. G-Cloud ii is an expansion of the G-Cloud service launched by the Cabinet Office in February 2012. The second iteration of the programme went live on October 26, 2012 and now offers 3,000 services from 458 IT suppliers.
The programme underpins a cloud-first approach by the UK Government that fundamentally changes the way public sector organisations procure and operate information technology to improve services and work more effectively for the public. With a catalogued list of suppliers, it simplifies the procurement process and provides easy access to approved cloud technologies and providers.
Details:
www.newvoicemedia.com
New research has revealed that employee use of personal smartphones and tablets as part of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) schemes is costing companies more than £60 per month per device. Russell Lux, commercial director at teliqo, a provider of bespoke cloud-based telephony services, believes that organisations need to give greater consideration to how they finance the mobility and connectivity of their workforces:
“Over 80% of the companies in the survey now permit employees to use their own hardware for work purposes, but with monthly bills of £61 per device they are running the risk of negating the productivity benefits they experience as a result. What’s more, that cost is likely to rise and rise as more people buy 4G-capable handsets and next-generation networks facilitate and encourage even greater data consumption,” he said.
Details:
www.teliqo.com THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – MARCH 2013
www.businessmag.co.uk
Not every cloud has a silver lining
The growth in the number of distributed workforces is driving the need for computing solutions which are based in the cloud. These solutions remove the requirement for businesses to implement complex internal computing environments and employ teams of specialist, in-house staff to manage such environments.
However, as well as the advantages that cloud-based solutions bring, there are also a number of security risks that need to be considered. Here, Martin Collins, networking and security specialist at Ultima Business Solutions, suggests five questions you should be asking of any potential provider of cloud-based services:
1 Regulatory compliance
Businesses are responsible for the security and integrity of their own information, even when it is held by a third-party service provider. Traditional service providers are subjected to external audits and security certifications. Ask your cloud computing provider if it is prepared to undergo such scrutiny.
2 Data location
When you use cloud-based services, you probably won't know exactly where your data is hosted. In fact, you may not even know what country it will be stored in. Ask your provider if it will commit to storing and processing data within specific jurisdictions and request they make a contractual commitment to obey the local privacy requirements.
3 Data segregation
Information in the cloud will typically be held in a shared environment alongside information from other customers. Encrypting your data will help to safeguard its confidentiality, but you should also be asking your cloud vendor to provide guarantees around segregation of data and other robust methods to protect your information.
4 Recovery
The business continuity capabilities of your cloud service provider is critical in the event of a disaster, such as corruption of your data or a major power failure. You need to be asking your provider if it has the ability to do a complete restoration of data, how long it will take and if it has tested its recovery capabilities.
5 Long-term viability
You also need to be asking what happens to your information in the event your provider goes out of business or it is acquired by another organisation. You need to be asking how you can get your information back and what format it will be in so you can be sure it will work on a replacement system.
Details: Martin Collins
martin.collins@
ultimabusiness.com 0118-9027242
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