While cloud computing is touted by every vendor and his dog as the panacea for all IT ills, the whole subject is still befogged by myths and mystery.
That’s what market research company Gartner thinks, anyway. In a recent report it said cloud computing is “uniquely susceptible to the perils of myths due to the nature, confusion and hype surrounding it”.
No one really knows what it is, said David M. Smith, a VP at Gartner. “In the cloud means where the magic happens, where the implementation details are supposed to be hidden. So it should be no surprise that such an environment is rife with myths and misunderstanding.”
The first myth in the mystery is that not all cloud service pricing is coming down. Companies can’t assume that the cloud always saves money. The second assumption made is that the cloud is the be-all and end-all of IT, and using cloud services isn’t necessarily the answer to cutting costs.
Many companies don’t even have a cloud strategy and are just obeying the diktats of their CEO – who probably doesn’t have a clue about what cloud is anyone. And cloud computing is not one thing – instead cloud services are broad and need to be analysed for their relevance.
People tend to think of cloud computing as less secure than having your data on servers in your premises. But there’s evidence that security breaches are more likely to happen here than in trusted cloud services.
Data centre outsourcing, data centre modernisation and data centre strategies are not synonymous with the cloud.
Still confused? It’s hardly surprising, is it?
