Cloud computing

Cloud computing has been getting a lot of attention lately. Like the other current hot topic, Web 2.0, it's a loosely defined term. Generally, it refers to accessing information technology services such as data storage or applications in the Internet "cloud" without control of the underlying support infrastructure.

Chances are that you've used cloud services on a personal level, if not on a corporate level. Do you have a

or Gmail e mail Ray Ban Sunglasses account? It's a form of a cloud Cheap Ray Bans application. Do you store your photos on Flickr? Are you or your kids on Facebook? That's right, more cloud services.

So you've already got a lot of personal data stored on the cloud, and you assume the you own and control it but do you? Depending on what was in the user agreement that you clicked through without a second thought when you signed up for the account, you might find that you've already ceded control of all that data. Remember all those precious family photos that your tech savvy grandmother posted on Flickr? Well, they could be lost forever when her account goes "inactive" if she should die without having kept a copy. I post my photos on Flickr, but I keep copies on my PC.

At this point you may be thinking "I'm glad my company isn't doing anything in the cloud." But as sportscaster Lee Corso might say, "Not so fast, my friend!"

Does your company use a payroll processing firm? Are your 401(K) contributions handled by an investment company? Does your sales team use

? Put away those sunglasses: It's getting "cloudy."

A big and obvious difference between personal and corporate examples is that the personal ones are free, except perhaps for the rights we forego. Corporate cloud applications typically come with a fee and tighter legal rights and protections. While this is obviously comforting, it doesn't mean that all the risks are gone.

When we in source data center operations properly, we put in place strong processes to address all our corporate concerns about backing up important data and ensuring the reliability of services. But when we go to the cloud for services, we shouldn't just assume that the provider has done all that work.

As the IT providers for our companies, we must perform the proper due diligence Oakley Sunglasses Online to make sure such processes are in place whether in our own data centers or the cloud application provider's data center.

Recently Gmail suffered an outage, as did Amazon's Simple Storage Service (S3). At first blush, these disruptions seem to be strong arguments against relying on cloud services.

But Oakley Sunglasses Wholesale you've got to look at such problems in perspective: Yes, a service outage can disrupt our business. However, can we truly say we can do better in house?

There is always a certain amount of fragility in technological environments. Arguably, large operations such as

, Amazon and Salesforce, equipped as they are with a wide array of resources, may be better able to address this fragility than any individual Oakley Sunglasses Sale company. No solution is without risk, but business is all about managing risk.

Yet even the rules of thumb that we use to manage risk are changing. Cloud computing can be seen, for instance, as a variant of outsourcing. And the time honored guideline for managing the risk of outsourcing has been to only outsource transactional, non core functions. Strategic and core functions should be kept in house.

What is core to your business? Is your sales data strategic? Are patient medical records strategic or core to a doctor's office? The answer to both is, of course, a resounding yes.

I'd argue that the rules are all in flux. What matters is who controls the data.

Cloud computing offers a number of attractive features like no capital outlay, scalability, no (or less) personnel and infrastructure to manage and variable pricing you pay for what you use. In some cases the service provider can offer better service than we can in house. But as IT providers, the data still stop with us. So read all that fine print in the Terms of Control and make sure that you stay in control, no matter where your data reside. Don't forget to conduct a full due diligence of their capabilities. To be fair, you should also conduct that same due diligence against your own capabilities. It is only until you have all the facts that you can compare the risks with the advantages and make the proper decision.

Mike Schaffner directs IT for the Valve and Measurement Group of Cameron in Houston, Tex., and aims to infuse a business based approach to information technology management. He also writes regularly on Beyond Blinking Lights and Acronyms.