12th September 2011
Cloud won’t evaporate, despite Microsoft issues.
Microsoft users were unable to access services including Hotmail, Office 365 and Skydrive at the end oflast week and into the weekend. This affected millions of users and raised questions about the reliability of cloud computing.
Adam Jarvis, director at cloud computing specialist Intrinsic Technology, comments:
“Incidents such as this will always lead to questions as to the reliability of new technology and ways of doing things.
“Cloud computing is the phrase-de-jour in the IT industry and, as such, it’sinevitable that people will jump on even the slightest problem as a sign that organisations should stick to the status quo. That clearly isn’t going to happen; cloud computing offers too many benefits, including systems that are flexible, secure and easier to manage.
“We need to accept that cloud computing is here to stay; learning from incidents like this rather than using them as an excuse to bury our heads in the sand.
“Whilst little is known about how Microsoft structures its cloud systems, this case reinforces the importance of major cloud providers spreading the risk across a number of small datacenters. Maybe this is already the case, but the lack of transparency around Microsoft’s structure doesn’t help users’ confidence.
“The solution for anyone seeking to implement a cloud strategy but fearful of news like this is a hybrid cloud solution. In our experience, a hybrid cloud solution protects against outages like this, whilst still delivering all the benefits of the cloud.”
