infoTECH Feature

July 08, 2009

Beware the Siren Call to the Cloud

Cloud computing has its uses, don't get me wrong, but if you've ever been on the road and had trouble getting a network connection, you also realize it has its limitations. Still, there's a philosophical camp that continues to batter away at the concept of a thin client/light computer that is the best solution for in-building and even mobile IT workers.

Google's (News - Alert) announcement this week of the Chrome operating system is stirring up the latest discussion of cloud computing for mobile workers. In concept, it sounds simple enough: Do as much work as you can on a remote server, keep the data at a data center, and access all applications through a web browser. Data gets backed up under IT standards rather than "when I can get to it" user standards and if the laptop/netbook is lost, broken, or stolen, the IT support staff can ship out a replacement via FedEx if necessary.

This utopian dream is built around ubiquitous, cheap, reliable high-speed broadband – something that doesn't exist yet. The easiest way to pull the plug on cloud utopia is to get on a 5.5 hour cross country plane trip. If you're lucky, you have been booked on an Aircell-equipped plane and can pay $10 to $20 to get Gogo inflight Internet service. Is there enough bandwidth to support multiple users banging away in-flight on cloud apps? It's likely, but there haven't been any formal usage tests on the matter. Will you have apps you want to access that will get hung up Gogo's firewall/filtering? Dunno.

If you're not lucky, you just don't have connectivity, so if you were depending on a cloud solution to provide your apps on your plane trip between NYC and LA or between DC and Charlotte, you might as well pull out a book and relax – not a bad thing, but a lot of business travelers prefer to get some work done on the plane so they don't have to deal with it as the last thing before bed.

Even if we ignore the "unconnected plane" scenario, there's also the more pragmatic issue of trying to avoid using more than 5 GB of wireless bandwidth in a billing period so you don't have to pay overage charges.

Some firms are more than happy to live with the relative limitations of a thin-client on a locked-down laptop. For confidentiality reasons, they want all data to be locked away in their corporate IT data center – not outsourced to a third party – where it can only be accessed through a VPN with nice tight security. The greatest threat to data security is via remote access, but it is a threat that is well understood.

Putting business data on a third-party cloud might seem to be an economical option over scaling up the corporate IT data center, but the professionally paranoid will tell you that the more public the cloud service, the more "hands" end up able to touch it and the more likely it might be compromised by either a freelance hacker or even scooped up in unrelated government interest on other matters.

If you are thinking about tapping into the cloud for applications– regardless of your business size – be aware of the advantages and tradeoffs you will encounter. And pack a book, just in case.

Doug Mohney is a contributing editor for TMCnet and a 20-year veteran of the ICT space. To read more of his articles, please visit columnist page.

Edited by Jessica Kostek

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