Looked at from a security standpoint, the Cloud isn’t that safe. We’ve mentioned it in this space before. From Cloud based social networks like Linkedin, to Cloud based email platforms like Gmail and Cloud based applications like Angry Birds, public Cloud infrastructures have proved to be anything but safe.
We’ve mentioned it here before but not a month goes by in which some major Cloud Computing platform isn’t hacked and consumer information is leaked onto the open market. The story seems to play on a never-ending loop.
From a business point of view, this is unacceptable. As any business owner who deals with client information knows, for a client to do business with your company they have to trust you. If your corporate solutions run the possibility of getting hacked due to faulty Cloud security infrastructures, no client is going to invest money on your product offerings.
Luckily, for corporate business owners and personal IT consumers, private Cloud solutions and deployments are starting to outgrow their public Cloud counterparts.
Private Cloud Deployments Prioritizing
As noted by Forrester, “in 2013, over half of enterprises stated that in 2014, they will be prioritizing building a private cloud, when it was only introduced less than five years ago.” Forrester further notes, “with current private cloud self-reported adoption at 33% and 55% prioritizing building an internal private cloud in 2014” the future of the private Cloud deployment looks bright. With more companies turning to private Cloud deployments due to their security foundation, data center providers have been ramping up their internal infrastructures to support a boom in private Cloud deployments both in terms of scalability and mobility.
Private Cloud Portability
While businesses are starting to invest more in private Cloud deployments, data center web hosting providers understand for companies to get the most out of their investment, portability between usage and environments need to take place. To accomplish this, data center server providers have been actively building internal infrastructures to support portability of resources between private Cloud deployments and public Cloud infrastructures. Also known at the hybrid Cloud, data center providers have been actively building out their infrastructures to support high portability of resources between platforms.
As noted by a Forrester report published on February 4, 2014 by Lauren Nelson:
“In 2014, private cloud vendors will give their customers the ability to move into the next stages where workloads are portable between environments, applications can be split across environments, and/or one can use public cloud to accommodate excess load during peak usage (cloud-bursting). However, issues like latency, template compatibility, infrastructure/hypervisor components, and application scalability are significant barriers that enterprises must face before adopting these more advanced hybrid cloud models.”
Even with obstacles like latency and application scalability in the way, there is no reason why data center providers won’t move to tackle barriers to entry allowing corporations to build and utilize the portable Cloud platforms they need.
Private Cloud Features
Lastly, it should be noted one of the major reasons why private Cloud deployments are set to become highly popular in 2014 is due to the package of capabilities they will come ready with. Again, as noted by Forrester research, major private Cloud Computing providers will being to bundle features into their offerings to entice companies into the door. Some of those features include:
- DevOps management
- SaaS service catalogs
- Mobile applications designed for remote management of applications
- Sensitive analytic automation tools to manage solutions thresholds
- Tools to manage real time comparison of workload placement
Just like a cable company enticing customers to buy a product, private Cloud providers are starting to package solutions as more than just a private Cloud deployment.