In a recent TheRegister post entitled “The cloud’s impact on security”, Tony Lock provides a definition for the groundbreaking concept of “Cloud Escrow”.
“…if you are using external cloud resources, look at how the data and any intellectual property invested in the processing engines employed to manipulate data can be moved to other third party cloud providers, or back into the enterprise, if you need to do that. You could call this ‘Cloud Escrow’.”
Readers of DivConq and other cloud technology blogs are probably already familiar with the term “Cloud Portability” – the ability to move cloud applications and data between different cloud providers or to receive the same services from multiple cloud providers at once.
However, what Lock does with his “Cloud Escrow” definition is remind people that the ability for companies to redeploy entire sets of cloud-deployed applications or data back into company-owned systems or private clouds is extremely important in case:
- a merger or divestiture impacts IT service delivery
- a regulatory change or legal ruling requires quick action
- currently contracted cloud vendors are acquired by a questionable owner or are unable to meet their service level agreements (SLAs) with current ownership
DivConq applauds Lock’s contribution of “Cloud Escrow” to the ongoing discussions being held at every level about the appropriate way to deploy resources into the cloud. The answer, as always, is to have a realistic fallback plan in case conditions change in a hurry.
Published on Friday July 30, 2010 at 09:48am