You see all these advertisements about moving everything to the cloud. Now Microsoft is pushing their products so that even your desktop programs are in the cloud. Yes Amazon, who is the largest Cloud provider today, and Google have been doing it for years. The cloud is not for everyone and it has not yet been perfected.

You may start by asking, what is the cloud? The cloud is simply put, remote computing. Instead of storing everything on your computer or laptop or even an onsite server, your data, and applications can be stored on the Internet. Service providers have many methods of providing these “cloud” services.

The benefits tend to focus around:

• Affordability - Pay as you go plans
• Easy to manage - (since the provider does it all and you don’t need an IT staff to take care of it anymore)
• Mobility - Work from anywhere with any device; so every time you log on your data is synced or the same on every device.
• Flexibility - to change or expand as often as your business requires in real time.
• Agility – to make changes quickly and with minimal to no downtime.
• Uptime - so it is running in Data Centers with teams maintaining the equipment and redundancy with copies running in multiple locations.

Some of the concerns still include:

• Uptime – with Amazon’s Cloud being down for days, anything is possible. Now, if a system fails, it is not just rebooting one machine and you’re back up and running. It can be more complicated when real issues arise.
• Security – with Amazon Web Services and PlayStation Network being breached, anything can happen. Even banks have been compromised, so the possibility of your data being compromised is a real concern.
• Intensive/Unique Applications – these are not always ideal in these environments

Don’t be fooled by the concerns, as all systems have the uptime and security concerns. There is no full-proof computing solution. Your data still resides on machines with software connected to the Internet. The Internet has gone down, systems go down, and hackers find holes. The cloud providers are more secure, offer more up time, and have more management expertise than your office or home network. The challenge is finding the RIGHT solution for you!

When NOT to go to the Cloud

• When you have regulatory compliancy requirements such as HIPAA
• Systems that talk to and rely on each other should stay together, so either move it all to the cloud or none of it. When systems are so tightly integrated, they may be that way for a reason and it is best to keep them together.
• If every system in your office requires a unique set up, and everyone has their own applications, then putting your desktops in the cloud may not be right for you
• If your application is not made to be used over the Internet, it may be best to explore other options first.
• If you have just invested in new hardware, it may be best to wait and plan to go to the cloud once you have the need.
• Don’t go to the cloud just to save money. Go for the features, when you need things to be modified quickly and need to be flexible with your set up.
• Moving to the cloud is not a Quick Solution, it should be thoroughly analyzed and planned out to get the best results.
• If you are planning on managing your own cloud with no experience, then it is not right for you.

So, maybe you choose to build your own cloud, or determine the cloud is not right for you, read about when NOT to Virtualize.