Enterprise Data Management – Catalyst for Cloud Computing

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Cloud computing is widely seen as the new wave, the next big thing, and the realization of a vision of computing as a utility like electricity, delivered out of a plug in the wall and billed based on how much you use. From inside the industry it can be either a promise or a threat. Like it or not, however, it will be a reality.

What is Cloud Computing?

Gartner defines cloud computing as “a style of computing in which massively scalable IT-related capabilities are provided ‘as a service’ using Internet technologies to multiple external customers.”

In general, everything in computing seems to be getting the as-a-service tail.

Why Cloud

Cloud computing offers several major advantages to users,

  • First, it avoids capital expenditure (CapEx) on IT.
  • Second, consumption is usually billed on a utility (e.g. resources consumed, like electricity) or subscription (e.g. time based, like a newspaper) basis with little or no upfront cost, eliminating all the complexity of trying to predict what the organization will need three years hence.
  • Third, the organization does not need to recruit, pay, and retain people with sometimes rare skills that have nothing to do with the core business.
  • Fourth, it gives the business huge flexibility to respond very quickly to business changes compared to the months that it takes to purchase and install a new server and sometimes years to implement an ERP system.
  • Fifth, cloud service vendors also can provide a level of disaster recovery capability that many businesses simply cannot afford to build into their internal systems, simply by the nature of the Cloud.

Other benefits of this time sharing style approach are low barriers to entry, shared infrastructure and costs, low management overhead, and immediate access to a broad range of applications. Users can generally terminate the contract at any time (thereby avoiding return on investment risk and uncertainty) and the services are often covered by service level agreements (SLAs) with financial penalties

The Buzz

Forrester Research advises CFOs to take a close look at cloud computing for messaging and collaboration and enterprise applications. Gartner Says Cloud Computing Will Be As Influential As E-business. Gartner also says that cloud computing is very much an evolving concept that will take many years to fully mature.

Issues with Cloud

The first of these to surface in most conversations is data security and loss of control over data. The second is quality-of-service (QoS), including network latency issues. Hence while the buzz is there, Enterprises are slow in embracing the Cloud initiative.

How Solix EDMS helps Enterprises launch into Cloud

Solix offers several products that have direct application to Cloud Computing:

  • Solix EDMS Data Masking can provide much greater security by masking the sensitive data as it leaves the organization to go to the Cloud and then unmasking that data as it is retrieved. This ensures that data can only be read by authorized individuals and not by hackers on the Web or dishonest employees of the Cloud service provider.
  • Solix EDMS Data Archiving can improve network latency by archiving off the least active data and improving the application performance, potentially that can offset the network latency time lag.
  • Solix EDMS Application Retirement can be the first Enterprises should target by relocating least business active data to the cloud. With this, they can start evaluating the cloud offering and analyze the benefits of cloud with least business risk. Reviewing application portfolio can help Enterprises identify underperforming or redundant systems where maintenance outweighs business value. By retiring these applications, companies can optimize their portfolio, reducing cost and risk. Application Retirement is removing a system, application, database or platform from service, while retaining access to the business-critical data. Solix EDMS Application Retirement provides this vital data management functionality of relocating and making the business-critical data available via Cloud offering.

Overall, Enterprise Data Management is an important part of the planning in any move from the data center to the Cloud. If issues related to Cloud are not tackled before the cut-over to new Cloud services, that can undermine the advantages of the Cloud and in extreme cases, force the organization to return to its older, more expensive internal environment. Well, we have lot to do, exciting times ahead…


© Solix Technologies, Inc.
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