Some businesses have been reluctant to implement cloud-based services because of concerns with security, speed, or downtime. But step back and ask yourself this: Is there any reason to be less comfortable having your data in a “cloud” than in your own server room?
In managing your IT infrastructure, you should compare your capabilities against those of your prospective Cloud services provider in supporting high availability, continuity, disaster recovery, power consumption, and the ongoing management of technical and physical infrastructure. Small businesses should conduct an objective evaluation comparing internal security, response times, and downtime with the service level assurances of the proposed cloud services and the track record of the vendor.
Some of the question s you’ll want to ask any prospective Cloud services provider include these:
When you host your data with a world class cloud hosting service such as DynaSis you get two levels of protection – physical and virtual. Physically, your data is stored in a highly secure data center with tightly controlled access.
Virtually, your data is accessed through a dedicated Virtual Machine. This means that, while you gain the economic benefits of sharing a physical server with other organizations, each DynaSis client has their own Virtual Machine. This means your operating systems access the resources of the data center – communications, processing, and storage – without any awareness that any other clients exist. Other companies sharing those resources also have no way of knowing that your systems and data even exist.
Through Identity Management capabilities, you can provide access for each of your employees or partners to all of the data and systems, but only the data and systems, which you want them to access. At a minimum, you will have the same access controls you have today. If you choose, your move to the Cloud can also be an opportunity to implement even more specific and robust access controls.
DynaSis’ world-class datacenter features a concrete and brick structure with reinforced steel. It has manned 24/7 security with digital surveillance and both fingerprint and biometric scanners to control physical access.
Its on-site electrical utility substation is fed by three diverse substations and two separate electrical grids. If these were ever to go out, its on-site generators with a static Uninterruptible Power Supply provide sufficient back-up power to run for days with the fuel already stored on site.
It has direct fiber for high-performance Internet access through six top-tier Internet providers. This means that even if one or more providers should go down simultaneously, the data center would still have multiple redundant Internet connections.
Finally, where needed, all data is fully encrypted as it moves both into and out of DynaSis’ servers. This way, even if someone were to obtain unauthorized access to your communications, all they would get would be gibberish.
Some of the biggest names in the Cloud business today do NOT provide automated failover; so, it remains up to the customer to provide for application failover to another data center in case of an outage.
An advantage of DynaSis is that, in the highly unlikely event of an outage, they can automatically failover applications from either of their Georgia-based Data Centers to their data center in Phoenix if so requested.
In most cases, Cloud computing provides a better response time than your standard on premises server hardware. The industrial grade servers used by Cloud Service providers will usually process transactions and queries much faster than typical servers used by small businesses even when they are running locally.
If you are going to maintain important business applications and data online, then your online access needs to be fast and reliable. Typically, companies who move to the Cloud will implement dual access Internet connections through two separate Internet Service Providers, or ISP’s. That way, if either connection should go down, they still have reliable access to their systems through the other ISP. And the odds of two different ISP’s simultaneously going down are infinitesimal.
The cloud does not present any unique risks to sensitive data that don’t already exist in an on-premise environment. DynaSis’ Data center is fully SAS-70 compliant meaning that it meets the requirements of HIPAA, Graham-Leach-Bliley, and most other data protection regulations.
In business since 1992, DynaSis has a solid record of steady growth and conservative management. The management team is experienced, insightful, and progressive in their use of advanced, but proven technologies. They’ll be in business for many years to come.
Now that we’ve addressed your concerns about Cloud Computing, you’ll want to know how you can gain the benefits of Cloud Computing for your business. Our White Paper titled, “The ITility Cloud Solution for Small Businesses” describes how DynaSis can provide you with exactly the Cloud Computing services your business needs while smoothly managing your transition to the Cloud making it as easy, as inexpensive, and as painless as possible.
DynaSis (www.DynaSis.com) asked Business Technology Futurist Jack Shaw (www.e-com.com) to write this series of White Papers discussing Cloud Computing and its implications for small businesses. For the past 30 years he has worked with leading edge technologies – from PC’s to the Internet. For many years now, he has been working with, studying, and analyzing the business impact of the technologies we now know as Cloud Computing.
This paper address concerns you may have about Cloud Computing. Others in this series explain what Cloud Computing is, discuss the benefits of Cloud Computing, and, and describe the ITility Cloud Solution which DynaSis offers to help your business gain the full advantages of Cloud Computing. Much of the content of this series of White Papers is also available in video form at www.DynaSis.com/videos.
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