More Cloud Cheerleading
May 27, 2011
“Gartner Identifies Five Ways to Migrate Applications to the Cloud” identifies the options for the IT department when the CIO calmly announces to ‘move some applications to the cloud’. As if it was only a matter of transferring a file from one shelf to the next.
Gartner insists there are many factors to consider when initiating the migration process, including a company’s requirements and architectural principles. Five options plainly identified for relocating to the cloud are as follows: “Rehost on infrastructure as a service (IaaS), refactor for platform as a service (PaaS), revise for IaaS or PaaS, rebuild on PaaS, or replace with software as a service (SaaS)”.
Granted, this article was written from the perspective of application architects. These are, we assume, individuals whose job is not to evaluate if an existing structure should be migrated to the cloud, only how to do so. In light of this, we would like to toss some other factors on the table.
What about the risks? Lady Gaga problems at Amazon. Dead Blogger.com. Sony network problems. Microsoft BPOS Exchange issues. Need I go on?
Cost should be considered. The difference felt in the coffers can be great between top-end and entry level servers, and without a simulation prior to the switch you may not realize what magnitude of power you require.
Security and reliability are also points of interest. Both the ability to extract personal data from the cloud as well as bring the service to a screeching halt has been demonstrated recently with the Sony network breach and AWS breakdown.
There are obviously some great benefits to joining the cloud, but just like any other decision, it is best to view all angles prior to jumping in. It is tough to search for documents or basic information when the cloud takes a couple of days off to recover from sun burn.
Sarah Rogers, May 27, 2011
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