Top Pitfall to Avoid When Implementing Cloud Computing

I have been reading a lot about “Cloud Computing”.  Almost every networking journal, conference, seminar touches upon the subject.  Cloud services providers aver that the traditional premise based network will soon be obsolete and network administrator better jump on the bandwagon quickly.  They tend to overstate the benefits (as I would expect anyone selling anything to do) and brush aside some real concerns.  They admonish network administrators to stop wasting their time managing premise based networks.  “Move to our cloud service and relax while we do all the work”.  Really?

The premise of the argument is tempting and there is a place for cloud services.  Unfortunately, migration to the cloud is not as easy as flipping a switch.  As any savvy network admin knows, many issues have to be resolved before making such a move.

The biggest concerns are the security of the data you put on the cloud and connectivity to the cloud services.  While service providers strive to eliminate breaches, security breaches have been reports recently.  If your WAN is down and you cannot connect to the service provider, it will prove to be very costly in terms of lost productivity.  There are many others that should be weighed against the benefits before making the decision.

What I am advocating is a well thought out strategic process when making a decision to move to the cloud.  It is better to ask providers tough questions upfront rather than confront them later.  Some of the pitfalls in cloud computing are detailed in a white paper you can obtain here.

Click HERE to download the white paper