Cloud computing could have a huge bearing on how we do IT. Even if
companies continue to run their own systems in-house, they might develop
and test applications in the cloud rather than buy their own systems
for the purpose.
Off-site disaster recovery centres will start to
look like a waste of money when cloud-based services offer the
necessary backup without the up-front cost.
But the services need
to be easier to use. The Eli Lilly researchers had to configure their
own servers manually, but in the future, that kind of service could be
automated with new servers coming on stream automatically to cope with
the demand.
Identity and access management will also take on a
new importance as more collaboration takes place in the cloud, and where
collaborative activities may be very short, lasting minutes rather than
years.
"The old model, which assumes that everyone inside your
silo is trustworthy and where you build an Active Directory for those
players to use resources inside your organisation, is dead or dying. We
have to find ways to change it," Seccombe said.
Politics and
regulation will also play a part in how we use the cloud. Personal
information is governed by local jurisdictions, and in many cases cannot
be legally stored in another part of the world. As Seccombe found when
looking at sites like patientslikeus.com, he could not deal with them
and be compliant unless they could guarantee that European patient
information stayed in Europe.
The answer, he says, may be to give
data a metatag that defines where it can reside, and which forces it to
self-destruct if it goes outside the prescribed area.
Source:
http://www.computerweekly.com/news/1348807/Benefits-of-cloud-computing-services-and-the-risks