The availability of data and services delivered through the cloud has been of some concern among local organisations because Internet connectivity in SA is still prone to instability.
So says Paul Fick, divisional MD at Jasco Enterprise Communication, who believes local Internet connectivity remains slow in comparison with the majority of first world countries.
“Since cloud servers are sometimes located outside of the country, lack of international bandwidth capability can cause performance issues on certain tools,” says Fick.
He adds that security of information, as well as privacy issues, have also come to the fore, since disclaimers need to be signed when agreeing to cloud services. “In the local legislative environment, the companies using these services are held liable for any breaches, not the service provider, and would have to ensure that they mitigate the security risk.”
According to Fick, these factors have limited the uptake of public cloud services, particularly in sectors such as banking, where transmission of sensitive information is part-and-parcel of the business, and high availability and performance are crucial.
“As a result, the private cloud has emerged to allow organisations, such as banks, to take advantage of the benefits of cloud services, while maintaining adequate levels of control, security and risk management.”
However, a recent ITWeb survey on cloud computing discovered that a significant amount of South African organisations (32.17%) say their organisations would choose to adopt a hybrid form of public, private and trusted cloud.
On the other hand, market research firm, IDC notes that while enterprise spending on storage for the private cloud will experience a compound annual growth rate of 28.9% by 2015, combined spending for public and private cloud storage will be $22.6 billion worldwide.
“Despite current economic uncertainties, IDC expects cloud service providers - both public and private - to be among the most expansive spenders on IT products and services as they continue to build out their facilities worldwide and expand their service options,” says Richard Villars, VP, storage systems and executive strategies at IDC.
Fick says private clouds share similarities with public clouds in terms of features and functionality, but exist within the boundaries of individual organisations, and are owned and controlled by them. “This means that resources are accessed solely by users within the organisation, and enables the technical and technological advantages of cloud services to be harnessed, while controlling access to data and negating the risks of public access and performance issues experienced on the global Internet.
“The private cloud sits behind the firewall of an organisation, so if properly set up, the threat of attack can be minimised and security can be tightly controlled,” he explains.
The major issue with public cloud computing in SA, Fick adds, is that bandwidth needs to be available to wherever the servers are located in order to have adequate response times, and the users need reliable local network access, too.
“In a private cloud scenario, higher levels of control exist over the ability to guarantee response time.”
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