INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Cloud
In light of apparent
hesitancy from
organisations
when it comes
to adopting the
cloud, Andrew
Cruise, Managing
Director at Routed,
advises six critical
elements to look
for when choosing
a cloud provider.
Cloud scope grows but
reluctance still dominates
I
f Gartner is to be believed and
only a mere 38% of enterprise IT
organisations are using cloud services,
there is undoubtedly continued concern
regarding cloud usage. Andrew Cruise,
Managing Director, Routed, a vendor-
neutral cloud hosting platform provider,
says that while there is massive scope for
growth and improved cloud adoption,
decision makers clearly need guidance
in terms of what to look for when finally
taking the leap into the cloud.
“The flip side of low adoption rates is
the potential to grow the market. When
making the decision, it is important
to understand what to look for when
choosing a cloud provider. Below are
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six critical elements to consider when
making your choice,” says Cruise.
1. Is cloud a primary
business focus?
Anyone that is hosting business critical
internal data must be experts in the field,
with a commercial focus on cloud; and
have a dedicated, experienced, certified
team whose primary responsibility is to
architect, deploy, secure, manage and
support cloud infrastructure. If it’s not
the only thing a provider does, it needs to
be at the very least a separate division or
business unit, or else the provider’s ability
to deliver security, performance and
availability is diluted.
2. What data centre have you
chosen to collocate at?
The data centre is the foundation on
which robust cloud infrastructure is built.
Once again, you will want to know that
the data centre provider is a specialist
in facilities management. Look for a
proven track record in building secure,
certified, highly available data centres
with redundancy and resilience across
power (dual UPS, dual generators),
CRAC (computer room air conditioning)
and fire risk mitigation.
It is also advisable to select an open
access, vendor-neutral site at one of
the main peering points for Internet
connectivity. In doing this, you will not
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