It seems like the talk of every enterprise is “should we or shouldn’t we” when considering cloud storage. Here are a few things about “The Cloud” that you might not know.
It’s used more than you think.
The cloud is a popular subject right now, but many reports make it seem as if enterprises are too scared to use it at all. That’s just not true; we are in the cloud revolution. As a matter of fact, according to RightScale, 74% of enterprises have a hybrid cloud strategy, and as much as 87% of organizations are using the public cloud in some form or fashion.
It’s older than you think.
The underlying concept of cloud computing dates to the 1950’s when organizations wanted to make the most of the large mainframe computer costs by allowing multiple users to share physical access and CPU time.
There are three main types of cloud.
The three main types of cloud are public, private, and hybrid. A public cloud is defined by the fact that the infrastructure is provided off-site over the internet. A cloud is defined as private when all of the infrastructures for the cloud is maintained on a private network. A hybrid cloud leverages both off-site and privately owned infrastructure for their cloud. The hybrid option is commonly used by organizations that have a mix of needs for security levels concerning their documents.
It’s not as unsecure as it seems.
With the highly publicized hacking of celebrities and the thousands of scary headlines floating around it’s easy to assume the cloud is as unsecure as the Wild West. However, that is not necessarily true. As a matter of fact, in 2012 Alert Logic’s State of the Cloud Security Report found that there were fewer incidents per impacted customer on cloud than on-premise.
There are 5 characteristics needed to officially be defined as a cloud.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) defines cloud as having on-demand self-service, broad network access, resource pooling, rapid elasticity, and measured service.