Note that cloud storage services have been the one area of overall cloud
services that is not doing as well in the public cloud - when you are
talking about cloud data storage, currently in most organizations that
means private clouds and virtualized servers. This is the case with
Multnomah County, which has adopted some "public" cloud services (Gmail,
Drupal - the quotes relate to certain exceptions related to government),
while continuing to maintain others in private clouds.
Cloud services are a developing market, and are by no means perfect. I read
this article as an attempt to address shortcomings in public cloud storage
services, as a response to market demand. The principle selling point I
have seen promoted is cost, not permanence. If some cloud vendors have been
saying otherwise, I'm sure that is a highly unusual case of hype on an
emerging technology, which I expect by now leaves most people
justifiably skeptical.
I think the main challenge with cloud services is not whether they will
evolve the level of sophistication to meet market demands - I think they
will, and this article is more evidence of that. Its whether they will be
able to do so and maintain their cost advantage. I have my doubts about
that, but I don't think we will see that play out for at least another 5 -
10 years.
The challenge right now is whether the significant cost advantages lead us
down a path that threatens insurmountable long term damage. My suggestion
to the county is that we do no harm. IN the case of Google, we have an
email system that is cheaper to maintain and is no worse than what we
previous had, or has some limited additional capability that our previous
system did not have. The principal advantage is cost. In the case of Google
Apps, we're sticking with the Microsoft Office suite for now, but
encouraging use of some of the collaboration tools. In the case of Drupal,
the change is a no brainer - our previous CMS system was a complete dud.
I don't think it does any of us any good to demonize what is a relatively
normal case of technological evolution. We should be cautious of the risks,
but also supportive of the possibilities. In the cost driven economy we are
in right now, change is inevitable. We can have a place at the table by
helping to make sure its prudent.
--
Dwight Wallis, CRM
Multnomah County Records Management Program
1620 SE 190th Avenue
Portland, OR 97233
ph: (503)988-3741
fax: (503)988-3754
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