The IT world continues to migrate more of its workflow to cloud providers and there is no indication that this pattern will slow down anytime soon. A cloud presence presents a new avenue through which a corporation’s data resources can be attacked by cybercriminals. While some of the risks are essentially the same as with an on-premises data center, there are additional factors that need to be considered when cloud instances are in play.

Addressing the heightened risks associated with the cloud requires that they are understood and identified as potentially affecting an organization’s computing environment. Here are some things to watch out for if your enterprise is making use of public cloud services.

Container Vulnerability

Containers are lightweight virtual machines that enable faster deployment due to their speed and simplicity. The ease at which containers can be deployed may result in security gaps that are quickly replicated leading to more systems that are vulnerable to attack. Many companies are using containers extensively and they are becoming the foundation of many cloud offerings. A vulnerability in a container that is reused throughout an organization gives hackers a much broader target and requires remediation efforts to be enacted across multiple systems.

Cryptojacking

Cryptojacking is a specific form of malware that compromises system resources and uses them to verify the transactions used to mine for cryptocurrency. It is an alternative method to ransomware with which hackers do not need to elicit a response from their victims. Rather than demand a ransom, they simply infect systems and use them to perform crypto mining in the background. The cost to the affected businesses is reduced computing capacity for which they are being charged by cloud providers. Cryptojacking malware has been observed that can uninstall cloud security programs and escape detection. 

Data Breaches

Data breaches afflicting cloud services can destroy the financial health of a business and cause irreparable harm to its reputation. The enormous data breach that affected Capital One in 2019 was the result of a known vulnerability revolving around a misconfigured system communicating with Amazon Web Services (AWS). Customers using AWS in the same way as Capital One are responsible for their system configuration. It is critically important that organizations using cloud services are aware of how security is being implemented to avoid this type of disaster.

Lack of Cloud Understanding and Inadequate Security Training

A thorough understanding of the underlying technology is essential for employees in organizations that make use of the cloud. Without being informed regarding the capabilities and potential vulnerabilities of cloud services, it is impossible for individuals to know if their behavior may be contributing to compromised enterprise security. Security awareness goes hand-in-hand with a knowledge of the systems that it is intended to address. It is up to upper-management to devise viable training programs that cover the way the cloud impacts security efforts. All employees need to refrain from acting in inappropriate ways that can threaten the organization.

The benefits offered by engaging cloud services are real and will continue to entice more companies to migrate some or all of their systems to avail themselves of the advantages. They need to be aware of the risks that may accompany their journey. 

According to research by the Gartner Group, the worldwide public cloud services market is expected to grow to over $266 billion in 2020. This represents a 17% increase compared to spending in 2019. While software as a service (SaaS) is the largest market segment, infrastructure as a service (IaaS) is growing faster than any other component of the cloud computing paradigm. It is expected to reach $50 billion in 2020 with 24% yearly growth. These numbers illustrate the fact that many enterprises are trusting their infrastructure with public cloud providers.

IaaS implementations put more emphasis on customer responsibility than do other forms of cloud computing. When an enterprise moves their infrastructure to the cloud, they are still responsible for areas such as the operating systems, virtual network, middleware, and applications that provide its computing resources. This reliance on homegrown IT talent and procedures can lead to disastrous consequences if it cannot handle the complexities of properly configuring the cloud infrastructure.

The Many Manifestations of Misconfiguration

There are many different issues involved in the misconfiguration of cloud systems which threaten to account for the vast majority of security failures by 2022. The problem with cloud security is not inherently associated with the cloud. The issue lies with the technologies and policies that are used to implement its security and control access to an organization’s computing resources. Here are some of the most important points that need to be considered by enterprises when employing the IaaS cloud computing model.

• Understanding the division of responsibilities is vitally important when undertaking any move to a public cloud provider. Organizations may have begun their cloud migration by testing the water when using an SaaS offering that provides additional or new functionality to their computing environment. This can leave them with a false sense of security regarding the degree to which they need to be involved in system configuration. Whereas the cloud provider is charged with configuring and securing SaaS instances, this is not the case where infrastructure is concerned. The lines between customer and provider responsibilities need to be clearly understood and agreed to when implementing the IaaS model.

• Data access and security are of paramount importance in any IT system. These areas achieve even greater prominence in cloud implementations where there are additional entities who may come in contact with enterprise data. Mistakes such as allowing storage devices to be accessible through an Internet connection or failing to turn on encryption to protect enterprise information are examples of this type of oversight. The keys required to access encrypted data should remain with the organization when at all possible to eliminate potential security risks beyond its control.

• User interfaces and APIs are other areas that need to be addressed when adopting the IaaS cloud model. These interfaces warrant close scrutiny as they are often the only asset with public IP addresses that enable anyone to gain entry into the systems. Weak security regarding interfaces and APIs can result in confidentiality, accountability, and availability problems with the systems behind them. Using standard and open API frameworks can help minimize the complications involved in locking down these potential security gaps.

The cloud offers many benefits to organizations that choose to take advantage of them. Every enterprise that implements the IaaS model needs to acknowledge and address the issues that may lead to system vulnerability or risk catastrophic security breaches.

Poorly configured cloud environments are proving to be the source of data breaches and leaks. This raises serious concerns for companies that have migrated their operations to the cloud. The number of leaks has increased significantly over the past few years, while the potential impact that they pose to organizations also has risen. Sadly, many of these leaks end up going unnoticed depending on the size of the party affected or the sensitivity of data leaked. Over the past few years, some organizations such as Facebook among others, have had data subjected to potential abuse due to misconfiguration issues.

Although some people might not have heard about them, security professionals understand that data breaches that have taken place in different companies. More than 62% of industry experts warn that cybersecurity breaches in the cloud originate from misconfiguration which they identify as the biggest danger to cloud storage and security of data. Ecuadorian data analytics company Novestat, for example, had data of more than 20 million people compromised due to failure to secure its Elasticsearch server. Another example of such exposure is the LionAir exposure which resulted from AWS S3 buckets that contained personally identifiable information (PII) that was left exposed. The information that was held there included passport numbers among others and such a mistake left it completely exposed.

At the top

Cloud Security Alliance Top Threats in their 2019 report lists infrastructure, data breaches, and misconfiguration as the leading three risks in cloud usage. This is because not every user of the cloud is an expert although most of those who have the responsibility to manage cloud on behalf of the consumers are professionals. Therefore, most organizations that use the cloud are yet to understand the threats that these issues present, and lack knowledge on the importance of the role of shared responsibility. With proper collaboration between cloud service providers and the user can deliver proper security. This collaboration makes a massive difference in cloud usage. According to Bergsma, insecure default configurations are the root cause of access control problems such as privileged access that can result in breaches and loss of data. Similarly, the lack of adequately defined parameters in networks leads to inadequate trust mechanisms and vetting of resources.

Responsibilities

Many modern organizations ignore their duties regarding cloud data security. The latest research indicated that only 32% of organizations believed that it is their responsibility to protect data in the cloud.  Most of them do not believe in shared responsibility which is further complicated by a confusing supply chain. The bad thing, however, is that many enterprises are now in the process of adopting cloud solutions. Nominet, in their recent survey noted that 88% of respondents agreed that they are currently in the process of adopting cloud solutions. Although it is the intention of most of these organizations to migrate to the cloud, security mindsets and their respective strategies are still on-premise. This mentality is what has caused organizations and individuals to continue ignoring configurations that could have otherwise helped protect data.

Although many cloud service providers do a decent job in advising their respective customers on the best practices for securing the cloud, most of them do not supply all the details regularly to support their customers. As the terrain continues becoming more complex, organizations must do what it takes to redefine the security of data in the cloud and enforce adequate security controls close enough to the data. They must also equally reimagine configurations in a manner that is data-centered, smart and fast to ensure that productivity and innovation are not affected.

Malware is not a new phenomenon in the computing world. Viruses, trojans, and other forms of malicious software have been around at least since personal computers started popping up on users’ desks. It’s the reason that antivirus software is recommended for all systems and why you should never open a suspicious file or email attachment. Doing so risks infection by damaging software hidden in the downloaded files.

In recent years, an especially pernicious form of malware, known as ransomware, has been affecting computer systems with devastating results. This particular type of attack encrypts or locks a user’s data and demands financial payment to get the information back. In some cases, even if payment is made access to the files is not restored. Infection with ransomware can be catastrophic for the organizations it impacts.

The Cloud is not Immune to Ransomware Infection

The purveyors of ransomware search for targets that have the financial resources to meet their demands. They have been going after medical offices and small businesses for years and are now also turning their sights to cloud providers and applications. These businesses cannot afford any extensive downtime without causing major problems for their clients. The providers have a business imperative to quickly settle with the criminals to avoid extended outages and the ensuing hit to their reputation.

Here are some examples of how ransomware has impacted cloud service providers and, by extension, the customers who depend on them.

Cloud computing provider iNSYNQ, which specializes in furnishing virtual desktop environments to its customers, was attacked with ransomware from a strain called MegaCortex in July of 2019. The infection caused the loss of access to customer data that lasted over a week in an industry where outages usually are resolved within a few hours. The company had to take down their infrastructure to prevent further spread of the malware and were tasked with rebuilding and restoring the data for thousands of servers.

Cloud hosting provider Cloudnine Real Time was hit with ransomware in September of 2017. The attack compromised data from 30% of its customers by locking their files and making them inaccessible. It took almost a week to fully recover user data from backups, some of which had also been infected with corrupt files. Fortunately no data was stolen by the hackers, so once the restore process was completed it was back to business as usual for the company.

The foreign exchange company Travelex was attacked on this past New Year’s Eve by malware named Sodinokibi, causing a severe impact on its ability to provide services to its customers. The cybercriminals are demanding a payment of $6 million and are claiming to have taken 5 GB of customer data that it is holding until the ransom demands are met. Travelex is still scrambling to understand the full scope of the intrusion and may be open to additional penalties, if data has been stolen, for not notifying the proper organizations promptly. This puts them at odds with the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) which require reporting of potentially customer-impacting data breaches within 72 hours.

While the cloud offers many benefits to the computing community, it is not immune to the threats of ransomware and other malicious software. It’s something else to consider when making plans to migrate your data or services to a cloud provider.

As businesses continue discovering the benefits that cloud computing can present with regard to efficiency and profitability, the use of cloud technologies continues to skyrocket. In the US for example, at least 70 percent of companies, whether public, private, or hybrid use cloud computing according to research done by IDG in 2016.

Owing to the evidence of the impact of cloud computing which has been seen over time, people are no longer talking about why cloud computing should be adopted. Rather, they now talk about how they can move operations and services to the cloud. These are the issues you need to consider before migrating to the cloud:

1. Make sure your cloud applications are an improvement to the on-premise applications you already have

Every business’ intention is to have systems that are better than what they already have in order to compete favorably in a highly competitive business landscape. This is no exception when migrating to the cloud. Your new cloud systems must give you the competitive edge you need as you cannot afford to lose anything when migrating to the cloud.  Ensure that you only pay for what you will use to avoid duplication and costs. You should ensure that you change everything to meet the shifting demands by improving the efficiency of your systems.

2. Decide where and what processes to start with

Moving to a cloud is not something you start and finish once. Rather, you need to have a concrete plan that involves moving operations in phases to avoid total disaster in case of a failure. Since it is new technology, it requires a phased approach where simple business processes are moved first and lessons learned from the previous phase applied to the next one. For a company that has subsidiaries or branches, you can start with one branch and scale your deployment to other branches.

3. Manage compatibility and interoperability with other vendors

Interoperability is perhaps one of the leading areas of concern when migrating to the cloud. As you select your cloud vendors, one of the leading areas you should investigate is compatibility of architecture and applications with other vendors. Incompatibility can cost your business a lot and can be the cause of problems when you want to migrate to another cloud service provider. You should also address integration issues that can create separate silos and affect operations.

4. Ensure the strategy of your vendor aligns to your company’s business strategy

Failure to align cloud strategy to business strategy remains the single most challenging area for many organizations and ends up jeopardizing everything. Before you commit to a cloud vendor, take your time to acquaint yourself with the architectural requirements of the service provider. Ensure that the service provider you choose offers all the capabilities that a company needs such as reporting options, budgeting features, and planning options as well as regulatory compliance. Most importantly, ensure that the vendor has integration and security strategies that can be verified by other businesses. Furthermore, inquire the investment of the vendor on future technologies such as blockchain, machine learning and IoT all of which signify intentions of the company to adapt to the future as you would always want your company to do.

IT departments responsible for facilitating the migration of companies’ cloud-based infrastructure often find themselves struggling due to the many issues they face. Most of these challenges are due to the complexity of managing different environments. The issues have been made even more difficult by the growing number of the new cloud initiatives which increases complexity therefore leaving the IT teams wondering about how they are going to update legacy IT environments and processes into a state that befits the prevailing digital space.

Mistakes are common in many IT projects. However, any project management professional will tell you that some mistakes are just too risky and some can even keep you from moving forward and succeeding. The same can be said about cloud migration. Cloud migration mistakes can be costly and companies can lose not only money but also time. If the company fails to identify these mistakes early, chances are that the mistakes can end up badly impacting not only the performance but may also damage confidence in your company’s cloud strategy. It may also lead to loss of confidence in the company’s IT team leaders which may hamper adoption of cloud strategy. As an IT team leader therefore, you should identify the potential issues that you can encounter while implementing cloud strategy and address them to ensure that your cloud deployment is successful. Here are three crucial issues that you need to watch in migrating to the cloud.

1. Failure to analyze your apps before the migration

Failure to analyze the company’s applications before migrating to the cloud is an issue that has bungled many cloud strategies. Before any kind of movement, you will need to do an analysis of applications to determine whether they are good for migration or not. For instance, you can do this by splitting the apps into two groups of apps – one listing the apps which will be replaced and the other of those which will be migrated. For example, you can replace on-premise email application with a cloud app like Microsoft’s Office 365. As an IT manager, you should consider checking how sensitive the application is to compliance. Companies on the other hand should be aware of apps which are sensitive to workloads. Initial app analysis enables a company to identify the attributes of all apps and enables one to avoid potential issues during the migration phase.

2. Not carrying out business analysis before migration

Embarking on migration without a clear business case is another issue which sees companies trying unsuccessfully to migrate to the cloud without understanding the benefits of it. Although some may think that migrating to the cloud is as easy as picking an application and moving it, the truth actually is that lack of business analysis may jeopardize everything. The analysis should include financial implications of migration, requirements, space required and the benefits that migrating to the cloud brings.

3. Inadequate training

 Although you might be in charge of many IT personnel, there are chances that most of them don’t know a lot about the cloud. This might be worse when it comes to cloud migration which makes the whole thing more complex. Since finding cloud-savvy employees can be expensive, you will have to train your personnel to reduce problems that are encountered and increase speed. You might need to find some consultants who are experienced in this area to train employees on the correct cloud migration strategies and how the it can be used in general. Inadequate training may cause legacy knowledge to be brought into the cloud which in the end may impact productivity and strategy in general. This has been one of the biggest challenges that many companies encounter during cloud migration.

Going by the discussions that are happening in the corporate world and the evident influx of new technologies, it is clear that businesses are changing their approaches to computing. Businesses have gone digital. It’s impossible to talk about computing without mentioning cloud computing, which is perhaps the leading buzzword in the world of technology. It’s promising to alter the corporate landscape for the better.

A critical factor to consider is how it can be used best and managed appropriately to achieve the needs of a company and explore cloud computing’s full potential. Here are the 4 most important things that companies need to understand about cloud computing and its management.

Performance

It is true that cloud computing can offer enhanced performance. However, it is important to note that there are instances whereby erratic performance can be experienced. This, of course, depends on the vendor. That’s why selecting the right vendor is critical. Before making a long-term commitment, make sure that you have a service level agreement (SLA) which guarantees all services required and which you are paying for. You also need to ensure that the services will always be available and verify the guaranteed availability before initiating the agreement

Security

For any company security of information is the most important aspect that must be guaranteed by a cloud service provider. It is not always easy to keep the systems secure as this requires investment in both technical and non-technical resources. Public cloud service providers are often highly secured and have cutting edge security mechanisms making them highly protected. Ensure you have highly trained employees to handle all emergencies with regard to security and be aware of the cost associated.

Portability

Before making a commitment to sign for a particular vendor, always take into account interoperability and portability. Many companies struggle with vendor-lock after signing up with some cloud companies. Among the leading issues which have been reported are setups of architectures and tools that some cloud vendors use which make migrating to another provider expensive and difficult. When looking for a vendor and during configuration, you should always make sure that industry standard settings such as APIs, data formats and protocols are used. This makes migration from one vendor to another not only less complicated but also less expensive.

Expertise

With the ever-changing technological landscape, new challenges associated with having the right expertise crop up. Consequently, managing services driven by technologies such as cloud computing require the right human resources to ensure operations run efficiently. This has become a huge challenge to organizations as experts in cloud computing are few and cloud technologies change constantly. So, IT staff must be trained adequately and regularly to handle different aspects of cloud computing. Also consider getting outside help to fill the existing gaps.

Government and private agencies are now shifting their computing operations to the cloud. This has been accelerated by the huge advantages that the cloud has over legacy IT because of its effectiveness, cost efficiency, scalability, and performance. However, various cloud computing issues still haunt its users. These challenges are mostly associated with the increased levels of complexity that demand that the CIO identifies the right vendor for the applications to run on and the features available from the stated vendor. These are some of the most important issues you need to address when planning to move your operations to the cloud.

Have a well-defined strategy and a business objective

There are various reasons why you should consider migrating to the cloud which includes agility, cost, scalability, digital transformation and flexibility. However, many people don’t get it right when it comes to aligning the cloud strategy with the business strategy. Your organization’s business strategy must dictate the cloud strategy. This may be complex in many instances as many companies may face problems due to lack of alignment of cloud strategy with the existing business objectives.

Security, time and cost

Cost is a significant issue faced by companies, but cost, security and time are also major stumbling blocks. Transferring data to the cloud is often a slow process that can take both man hours and bandwidth to succeed. Moreover, cloud computing being a new technology raises some security doubts which need to be understood and addressed accordingly. Overcoming these challenges is often one of the biggest hurdles but must be addressed regardless.

Get people and processes right

The biggest challenge when it comes to the adoption of cloud is not technology. On the contrary, it is usually people and processes. These two must change to adapt to the new needs and changes in the organization. However, this may end up taking a lot of time therefore negatively affecting cloud adoption. For you to manage transition easily, consider adding tech innovation test centers to make the entire process easier. Large companies are likely to face massive challenges when it comes to adopting the cloud fully as a result of complications which may come up in the transition process.

Select the right platform

Among the leading cloud computing issues is the failure by companies to pick the right platform. CIOs should always take their time to compare platforms and choose the most appropriate one that meets the technical requirements for each workload. The chosen platform should also meet the unique needs of your firm and suit its line of business. A smart company performs a comparative analysis of the existing platforms and chooses the one which fits all its business needs.

In summary, cloud transformation is a long process that can be simplified with the right expertise. To effect a successful cloud adoption, you should always keep in mind that selection of cloud vendors is a process and not an event and a process is a step by step undertaking.

According to ZD Net, open source software creators are not always happy with Amazon cloud services. 

Like many platform operators, Amazon has a love-hate relationship with those hosted on its platform. This is particularly true for open-source software creators, who see their products on offer on Amazon's cloud on terms they are not happy with.

Read article on ZD Net

According to Dark Reading, cyberattacks from the cloud account for 44% of security threats. 

Cloud-enabled cyberattacks are ramping up, as indicated in a new Netskope study that found 44% of security threats use cloud services in various stages of the kill chain.

Read article on Dark Reading

Google has acquired Cornerstone Technology to boost its mainframe migration capabilities, reports Analytics Indie Mag.

In an undisclosed deal price, Google on Wednesday acquired Cornerstone Technology to assist big organizations in migrating their mainframe workload.

Read article on Analytics Indie Mag

Google is reorganizing its cloud division, reports Market Watch.

Google is cutting an unspecified number of jobs at its cloud-computing business as part of a reorganization in hopes of enhancing operations and improving its standing in the booming market

Read article on Market Watch

When an organization decides to move some or all of its computing environment to the cloud, selecting the right provider is of paramount importance. Making the right choice can lead to a fruitful relationship with a cloud partner that benefits your business. Selecting the wrong provider may result in unfulfilled expectations regarding the financial and operational implications of the move.

There are many cloud providers from which to make your choice. While Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure are currently the biggest players, many smaller and more specialized providers exist that may make sense for a particular implementation. This post offers some guidance as to what to look for in a provider and some questions to answer before entering into a contract with one of them.

Differentiating Characteristics of Cloud Providers

Getting past the marketing hype can be difficult, as every provider believes they have the best solution for your needs. Here are some specific factors that should be considered before committing to a cloud provider. 

Security and compliance - The security of your systems and data are critical no matter where they are located. Trusting them to the cloud requires you to determine how basic security will be provided and if there are additional protections that can be obtained at an extra cost. There are shared security responsibilities in a cloud implementation, with both customer and vendor sharing the burden of protecting the environment. Compliance is also performed in a shared manner and the details need to be fully understood to avoid the inability to provide evidence that your systems are complying with security and privacy regulations.

Management responsibilities - Varying degrees of customer involvement in managing the cloud platform result from adopting different cloud models. A Software as a Service (SaaS) implementation will usually require very little customer management, whereas they may have significant responsibility for a move that employs the Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) model.

Architecture and storage - The underlying architecture used by the provider may influence your decision to use them for your cloud computing needs. Certain providers may use tools and applications that facilitate integrating your environment into their infrastructure. For instance, if your business relies heavily on Microsoft products, you may benefit from discounts and licenses offered through Azure. The method used to store your data and the flexibility afforded in how and when you can access it are other factors that need to be clarified.

Pricing structure - Billing may be done in a variety of ways and some of them may work better in a particular situation. Most providers offer on-demand payment plans with some also providing discounts for long-term or volume usage.

Other considerations - You may also be concerned with the physical location and safety of the data center that will house your environment. Other important factors include the history of downtime and level of support you can expect from the provider when a problem arises. 

Putting it All Together

A thorough investigation of the factors outlined above will help your organization make a good choice when selecting their cloud provider. You need to enter the relationship with a full understanding of what you are getting, how much it will cost, and the expectations that will be placed on your team. Taking the time to determine these facts before the engagement begins makes it much more probable that your journey to the cloud will return the benefits you desire. 

Rackspace recently rebranded and is focusing on providing unbiased managed cloud services. CEO Joe Eazor stated the rebranding of the company is intended to emphasize that “the primary goal is to accelerate the allure of the cloud for customers.” Rackspace is meeting customers where they are currently at with their cloud systems and assisting with the roadmap. The timing of this is very good as the adaptation of hybrid cloud and multi-cloud becomes the norm across the enterprise landscape. According to a Forrester research report, 74 percent of enterprises have added the hybrid cloud to their organizational roadmap.

New offerings from Rackspace include:

Managed VMware Cloud

VMware Cloud features VMware’s enterprise grade SDDC software in the AWS Cloud with access to native AWS services. VMware Cloud on AWS integrates VMware products (VMware vSphere, VMware vSAN and VMware NSX)  and VMware vCenter Server management that is configured to run on dedicated, bare-metal AWS infrastructure. VMware Cloud on AWS provides services between VMware datacenters and the AWS cloud, which integrates environments for easier management and better security. Having access to AWS services extends the value of enterprise programs over their product life cycle.

Kubernetes and Container Services

Rackspace launched its first managed Kubernetes service as part of the rebranding effort. Ramakant Pandrangi, Vice President of Product Management for managed hosting and private clouds at Rackspace, says “Rackspace will offer a managed service based on a handful of distributions of Kubernetes running on public clouds and on-premises IT environments. Initially, the focus will be on the Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) from Amazon Web Services, the Anthos platform from Google and the Pivotal Container Service (PKS) from VMware.” Kubernetes will be supported for both virtual machines and bare-metal servers.

Cloud-Native Support

This service will include Cloud Reliability Engineering. A Rackspace team of cloud infrastructure engineers will work with an organization’s internal IT team on cloud projects. This includes planning and deploying cloud infrastructure and optimizing cloud-native capabilities.

Rackspace Managed Security (RMS) Service Blocks 

The current product line, which includes managed security has been expanded to include proactive detection and response. Customers on VMware private clouds can also receive assistance with compliance. Managed public cloud customers will also receive support for native cloud security utilities on all the leading public clouds, starting with AWS.  This will help organizations integrate their managed cloud security into a single pane of glass.

Integration and API Management Assessment

Software purchasing decisions usually involve input from multiple decision makers across multiple departments. Often the opinions from users in departments are much different than the IT teams who are responsible for integrating and deploying these applications. The Rackspace Integration and API Management Assessment is designed to evaluate the current status of software integration. This is done from multiple perspectives including data, process analysis and current applications. From this assessment Rackspace will recommend integration strategies that align with company objectives and goals. This unbiased expertise and evaluation is outcome focused instead of product focused to narrow in on the best overall solution for the organization.

Developments in cloud computing have spurred many businesses and organizations to leverage the power available in this 21st Century technological paradigm. Cloud providers are constantly honing their offerings and introducing new methods to attract and serve their customers. They are also jockeying for position as they strive to increase their share of this very lucrative market. Amazon currently leads providers with 33% of the cloud infrastructure services market. Google, Microsoft, IBM, and AliBaba are the other large players in the field. They all are following accepted business practices and searching for ways to bolster their customer base.

The Big Get Bigger

One of the strategies that companies use when attempting to expand control over a market segment is to engage in mergers and acquisitions. This behavior is evident in the realm of major cloud providers. Here are some recent examples. 

• IBM’s acquisition of Red Hat, a developer of open-source enterprise software, is designed to strengthen the company’s cloud offerings as they compete with other market leaders. The deal cost Big Blue $34 billion in cash and stock. 

• Google Cloud acquired Elastifile to bolster its storage capabilities. Elastifile provides a software-based technique for managing network-attached storage (NAS) which Google plans to incorporate into its cloud storage offerings. 

• Microsoft’s acquisition of GitHub will enable the company to strengthen its relationship with the developer community. The $7.5 billion deal will facilitate the use of Microsoft tools and services by the over 28 million GitHub developers and their products. 

These moves by some of the giant cloud providers are concentrating resources and intellectual capital within a small pool of corporations. In the opinion of corporate management, due to the economies of scale that their organizations provide, they can achieve the greatest benefits from these technologies. Believing that altruism is the complete rationale behind the mergers is foolish. All of these companies are driven by the need to continuously generate profits, and acquiring new skillsets contributes to that goal.

The Dangers of Too Much Consolidation

While consolidation may be attractive to the giant cloud providers, the practice may expose customers to some potential issues. As with any industry, consolidation in the cloud will undoubtedly lead to fewer alternative solutions for prospective and current clients. Monopolization of any market segment presents the prospect of price-fixing, taking advantage of the lack of competition for a particular service. The cloud will not be immune to this ailment. 

This absence of competitive alternatives ties in with the concept of cloud vendor lock-in. In this scenario, a vendor employs proprietary technology solutions that make it difficult for customers to adopt a new provider. This can be problematic for financial reasons if better deals for the equitable services can be obtained elsewhere. It can also result in the inability to optimize your cloud environment by migrating to advanced technologies that better serve your needs.

There is not much that the average IT professional can do about this phenomenon. It is something that you should be aware of and keep in mind as you plan to move your business-critical applications to the cloud. Your future choices may be more limited than they are today, so make them wisely.

Cloud computing holds the promise of many technological advances that will impact society in a myriad of ways. There are definite economic advantages to leveraging the power of the cloud. Sometimes overlooked are the environmental benefits that may accrue from taking advantage of the cloud computing paradigm. 

The economies of scale associated with cloud computing as well as a shift in how businesses address their intellectual capital have opened the door to more environmentally friendly means of providing the world’s IT support. Let’s take a look at some specific examples.

Reduction of Greenhouse Gas Production and Energy Consumption

A report co-authored by Microsoft and WSP identifies four ways in which the company’s cloud computing environment works to reduce energy use and minimize the effects of greenhouse gas on the world’s climate. They are:

• Operational efficiency - Through processes such as dynamic provisioning, multi-tenancy, and optimized server utilization, cloud installations provide large scale operational efficiencies when compared to individual on-premises data centers. 

• Equipment efficiency - Cloud providers can make use of specialized and efficient IT equipment which can lead to a reduction in electricity use by over 10 percent.

• Data center infrastructure efficiency - Power usage effectiveness (PUE) is a measurement of how efficiently a data center uses electricity. Hyperscale data centers such as those employed by cloud providers strive to reduce power consumption in lighting, cooling, and other areas of infrastructure support. 

• Renewable electricity - The consolation that occurs by moving on-premises data centers to the cloud paves the way for large-scale purchases of renewable energy.

Paper Reduction for Businesses

Data storage is one of the basic cloud offerings that alleviate the need for businesses to maintain their own storage arrays. A further step that many businesses are adopting is to go paperless wherever they can. Employing cloud-based technologies like DocuSign enable contracts to be signed and stored electronically without ever needing to be translated to paper. The paper industry is a notorious polluter so any reduction in paper use is a benefit to the environment.

Remote Workforce

One of the major selling points of the cloud is the ability to access your data from any location. This fact enables businesses to allow their employees to work remotely while maintaining the same functionality as if they were in an office. This reduces auto emissions and can lead to the business reducing the size of their physical footprint with commensurate savings in cooling, heating, and energy use.

Keeping Tabs on Cloud Providers

Rather than accept the claims of cloud providers on face value, savvy environmental groups have been monitoring the industry for years. Greenpeace is one of the organizations which has kept an eye on cloud providers and pressures them to increase their use of renewable energy. Their latest report was completed in 2017 and grades companies based on their commitment to using renewable energy to power their datacenters. 

Their findings show that Apple, Google, and Facebook are among the leaders in the drive toward the goal of using 100% renewable energy to power their IT infrastructures. Holding these giant corporations accountable for their energy use is key toward ensuring that the future of cloud computing minimizes any negative impacts on the environment.