Good news: Security really isn't your biggest concern for cloud computing anymore.
Bad news: There are four bigger concerns now.
But don't think security isn't a worry. No Jitter writes that cloud telephony and computing security can be divided into two parts or sets of assets - data and "processes, applications and functions."
The primary decision is to determine the risk associated with moving what functions to the cloud, No Jitter says, "security being a major consideration. For anyone considering moving functions to the cloud, the security issue will probably be the hardest to resolve."
But industry observer John Soat thinks security is probably about the fifth most compelling concern for cloud computing, actually. And the concerns more pressing than security aren't even all techie, he notes.
Performance comes in at #1 for Soat. "The recent problems with Twitter ('Fail Whale') and Steve Jobs' (News - Alert) embarrassment at the network outage at the introduction of the new iPhone don't exactly impart warm fuzzy feelings about the Internet and network performance in general," he says. Indeed - as he says, an SLA can't guarantee performance; it can only punish bad performance.
Second is a perennial concern with pretty much anything: ROI. "What has driven the initial stages of cloud computing (that is, software-as-a-service and, to a lesser degree, infrastructure-as-a-service) makes sense mostly as a function of short-term return-on-investment." And if you're looking for the long term - you are, right? Good - you have to ask yourself Soat's puzzler: "Does operational expense always trump capital expense, at least in technology investment? And isn't it funny how initial cost savings always seem to dry up over time?"
Market churn. Yes, Soat sees this as a bigger concern than security these days. "Remember the dot-com boom? Something like that is taking shape in the cloud market, and will be followed by the inevitable slump (bust, crash, etc.)." Or do you have an immediate Plan B for when "the cloud vendor you were counting on suddenly packs his tent and slips quietly into the night?"
Privacy. "It usually gets packed along as a second cousin to security, but they are really two separate issues. The lawyers have only now woken up to the business implications of cloud computing, and responsibility for data is a major one." As Soat warns, "don't be lulled into thinking the cloud vendor assumes all liability for privacy problems."
And finally at #5 comes security. "Of course this is still a problem. Signing a cloud contract without knowing your vendor's security architecture isn't smart."
David Sims is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of David's articles, please visit his columnist page. He also blogs for TMCnet here.Edited by Juliana Kenny