Cloud vs On-Site
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Created: Thursday, 13 February 2014 15:35
One of the topics that I always find myself a part of is the virtual vs physical conversation. In the same conversation there is also cloud vs on-site hosting. In my opinion supporters of virtual and cloud based solutions seem to only focus on cost. I think that there are so many factors that need to be considered with choosing the appropriate path for your organization. At the root of this debate seems to be cost vs security. Within the security realm is a separate separate cost vs risk. While I do not profess to have all the answers, I will try to give a few things to think about.
When you move to a cloud based solution, you are paying for a company to maintain servers that will host and store your applications and files. More times than not, these companies have hundreds of servers in multiple locations that are virtualized, which helps in redundancy and availability. These companies that offer cloud based solutions are responsible for the heating, cooling, physical security, and maintenance of the physical. The upfront cost associated with maintaining a network is definitely cheaper using cloud based solutions. This is because these companies split the operating costs over several clients, and amortize these costs over the life of of your contract.
Internet service providers (ISP) provide the transportation method used to get data from you to the cloud. The reality is that ISP's have outages, which is why you will not find a service level agreement (SLA) that states 100% up-time. Companies that offer cloud based solutions will have alternate methods for connectivity. This could come from having multiple ISPs, in case one fails, or direct traffic to another location where your data is replicated.
If employees work physical location and your internet connection, this could mean there is no access to files, software, and email. Having an alternate ISP gives the ability for failover to allow users connect to your cloud resources. What are the odds of two ISPs having an outage at the same time? The fact is, having some services and data storage on site keeps you going in the event you can not connect to the outside world. Businesses expect to be profitable all the time, and outages caused by an ISP can potentially hurt a companies profits. Lost profits can come from paying non-productive employees because they can not access their data or communicate to clients.
Security is another issue when dealing with cloud based solutions. I don't mean security of the physical systems that the data resides on, but data security for transmitting and storing of your data on the physical/virtual servers. Anyone that has worked or has any training in cyber-security understands this thing called the CIA model. It stands for: Confidentiality Integrity and Availability. Anytime IT professionals speak on data security, it is in terms of making sure that the data remains confidential, intact, and available at all times. The most secure method for transmitting data is by using fiber as a transmission medium and using a secure transmission protocol. Without going too far from the main topic:
- -fiber is very difficult to tap into and copper is the easiest
- -transmission using a secure protocol is always safest
- -choosing a medium and protocol goes back to cost and the CIA
So, what is my opinion? Every organization and their requirements are different, so I do not think there is a rule for everyone. Regardless of what method you choose, there still needs to be an IT professional on staff or on call to setup, maintain and address any problems that come up. With all that said and aside from any specific requirements, I would recommend a combination of both cloud and on-site systems. On-site is faster and allows for connection in the event of an outage. I would then utilize the cloud for redundancy as part of my Disaster Recovery Planning.
