Messaging News - February 2009 - (Page 22)

MOVING INTO THE CLOUD “It’s critical that cloud-based services are routinely audited for security and privacy.”—Farley Steward, Websense • Service level agreements providing specific, measurable performance commitments. • Early adopters paved the way for them—as early adopters of the technology have successfully implemented cloud-based solutions, other companies, who may have first been reluctant, are following their lead. IDC found that the shift toward cloud computing is being driven by three market forces: the search for growth (and revenues) in important new segments, including emerging markets like Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC), as well as the small and medium business (SMB) sector; the shortcomings of traditional approaches in capturing the growth in these increasingly important markets; and competitive pressures from new players with little to lose and everything to gain from pushing the new model. The word “cloud” seems to have found its way into descriptions of products and services that are only very slightly (if at all) related to the concept and practice. Lev believes that enabling customers to separate the hype from the benefits involves a better understanding of their own needs. “Just because a service is offered in the cloud does not necessarily mean that it is better than a locally-based service,” explains Lev, who believes that in the case of security, the detection and analysis must be done in the cloud for the most accurate coverage. MB/TMP What to Look for in a Cloud Solution Researching cloud-based solutions can be a daunting task, especially, as mentioned earlier, when the word “cloud” is used interchangeably (and erroneously) with SaaS. In addition, many organizations are still grappling with the ambiguous nature of the “cloud” concept whereas others are unsure of how to weigh the pros and cons of off premise versus on premise solutions. We asked the vendors to provide a few things customers should consider when evaluating a cloud solution. “Potential customers should first examine who and what is behind the delivery model—the domain expertise of the company providing the service should be the first step,” advises Farley Steward, product marketing director for Websense. “A novel delivery model alone is not enough. Customers should also look for service level agreements to ensure the reliability and security of the solution and their data,” adds Saurabh Bhatnagar, senior product manager for Websense who also says that an objective assessment of cost of ownership—including hardware, software, maintenance, upgrades, and associated resources—is a necessary step in finding the right cloud-based solution. “Clients should consider the flexibility of the service components,” believes Amir Lev, CTO for Commtouch. “Because threat detection and analysis is most effectively handled from the cloud, customers should look for a solution that provides comprehensive security—including analysis and detection from the cloud—and then decide what level of control they prefer over the local policies. For IT managers that want in-house control over email, some services allow them to locally manage network security policies and threat quarantines. Meanwhile, other companies may prefer to move administration functions to the cloud through a managed service solution in order to reduce management overhead.” MB/TMP FOR YOUR REFERENCE Commtouch www.commtouch.com EDITOR’S NOTE Read Pinching Pennies with SaaS in the December edition of Messaging News for more on SaaS and cloud computing. IDC www.idc.com Websense, Inc. www.websense.com 22 MESSAGING NEWS FEBRUARY 2009 http://www.commtouch.com http://www.idc.com http://www.websense.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Messaging News - February 2009

Messaging News - February 2009 Contents Editor’s Note Short Takes Options Grow for Virtualized Environments Messaging Predictions for 2009 Moving Into the Cloud IBM Comes Out Swinging Next in Messaging News Learning to Do More with Less: An RSA Conference 2009 Preview “On Message” with Ben Gross The Web Has Shifted. Is Your Network Ready? Making the Case Learn More

Messaging News - February 2009

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