Alan Jones's List: SaaS for your business

In the marketing world, new phrases are constantly created to sell products and services.  Sometimes, the word or phrases are clear and concise and other times, as is the case with cloud computing, the phrase may be concise, but it is far from clear.  With cloud computing (and virtualization & Windows 7 & etc) all the rage these days, the concept is continuing to make its way into businesses everywhere.  However, there are still organizations out there that do not know what cloud computing means to them which also means that they don’t know whether or not cloud computing could be good for the bottom line.  In this post, I’ll explain the relatively non-technical basics behind the concept of cloud computing and explain why services “in the cloud” can result in a healthier bottom line for business.

Is the cloud a hacker's paradise? A survey at last month's Defcon hacking conference paints that picture.

 

 

Sponsored by security vendor Fortify Software, the survey asked 100 hackers who attended Defcon about security in the cloud. A sizable 96 percent said they believe the cloud opens up more hacking opportunities, while 89 percent said cloud vendors aren't doing enough to address cybersecurity issues.

 

Among the hackers surveyed, 45 percent said they had already tried to exploit vulnerabilities in the cloud. Although only 12 percent admitted to hacking into cloud systems for the money, that's still a significant percentage to ponder for companies moving to the cloud, according to Fortify. A Gartner study from earlier this year found that by 2012, 20 percent of businesses will own no back-end IT assets of their own, planning instead to store everything all in the cloud.

 

Drilling down further, 21 percent of those questioned see software as a service (SaaS) cloud systems as the most vulnerable. Among the hackers who'd snooped around the cloud, 33 percent said they found vulnerabilities in the public DNS (Domain Name System), 16 percent have hacked into log files, and 12 percent have been able to check out communications profiles.

 

"More than anything, this research confirms our ongoing observations that cloud vendors--as well as the IT software industry as a whole--need to redouble their governance and security assurance strategies when developing solutions, whether cloud-based or not, as all IT systems will eventually have to support a cloud resource," Fortify chief products officer Barmak Meftah said in a statement.

Austin, Texas - TriActive – April 1, 2008 – TriActive, Inc., a pioneer in SaaS for systems management and THINKstrategies, a strategic consulting company that helps enterprises make better sourcing decisions, today announced the completion of a 460 company study on the usage of Microsoft Office® software. The study included data collected by TriActive’s Asset Management Suite™ from over 125,000 endpoints across 460 companies revealed companies can save an average of 50% or more on their Microsoft Office licensing by only purchasing software actually used by individual employees, and provisioning the correct version of Office needed by the users. The study found that Microsoft Office is installed on more than 99% of corporate PC’s and in many cases those Microsoft Office installations are underutilized or completely unused.

Technology

  

More and more people are moving their lives onto the Web. It's not The Matrix, but close

 

Like so many brides-to-be, Nellie Wu had to plan her wedding last year with friends and relatives scattered across the continent. So the New Yorker did something that's also becoming more typical of modern brides: She turned to "the cloud."

  

Cloud computing, that is--another name for living on the Web. Wu started a blog and an Internet chat group and used Web-stored documents and calendars to keep plans on course. Simple E-mail wasn't enough anymore, with messages flying back and forth and "cc:" copies showering the uninterested. "I didn't want to be 'E-mail bombing' everyone," she says.

PRIVACY WATCH

  

Your private information should remain private regardless of where it might be. But you can't count on that happening.

 

AS CLOUD COMPUTING speeds ahead, privacy protections are too often being left in the dust.

  

Loosely defined, cloud computing involves programs or services that run on Internet servers. Despite the buzz surrounding it, the idea isn't new--think Webmail. But huge benefits, such as being able to gain access to your data from anywhere and not having to worry about backups, have led more people to leap to the Internet to do everything from writing documents and watching movies to managing their businesses. Unfortunately, privacy is often still stuck at home.

   Behind the Times  

Archaic taws that focus on where your information is, rather than what it is, are part of the problem, But a disturbing lack of respect for essential privacy among industry heavyweights who should know better is also evident.

  

Consider comments that Google CEO Eric Schmidt made during a recent CNBC interview. In response to the question, "People are treating Google like their most trusted friend. Should they be?" Schmidt responded. "If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place." The taped interview segment is available at find.pcworld.com/64269.