12/12/2011 -

A configuration error was responsible for the massive Amazon Web Services outage that knocked off or slowed service to dozens of high profile Web sites and crippled business operations relying on data stored in the massive cloud. Around the same time, Sony acknowledged it was hit by a massive security breach of its Playstation Online Gaming network, exposing as many as 25 million user accounts to hackers. Does this mean there's a problem with cloud computing?

Daily news reports now come laden with headlines of cloud computing outages, which either impede or cripple user access to critical information and computing resources. It’s precisely what the nascent cloud industry doesn’t want to happen, since it’s banking on rapid growth based on the economics of transferring expensive on-premise systems to hosted cloud-based services. Such incidents tarnish the reputation of cloud services and, to some, make it a less credible option for business-critical infrastructure and data.

What could result from such incidents as the Amazon outage is a more realistic view of the capabilities and limitations of cloud computing. And, that’s where solution providers may find opportunity in consulting on the proper adoption and implementation of cloud services, as well as setting realistic expectations for what businesses can expect when they migrate computing and data resources to the cloud.

How will all this impact cloud computing adoption? That’s the question on many people’s minds. Incidents such Amazon and Sony have many people predicting businesses will rethink their cloud strategies and slow adoption of cloud services as alternative to on-premise infrastructure.

A slowing of cloud adoption is highly unlikely. The economics are on the site of cloud computing. Businesses want to cut costs and focus on their core competencies. Cloud computing enables them to transfer technology burden to service providers, who can distribute the costs to multiple users.

The benefits that come from cloud computing are not being realized, but they are known. The cloud enables greater integration and interoperability that businesses cannot get with on-premise technologies. They can build or contract more flexible and cost-effective computing resources in the cloud that are otherwise cost prohibitive in the on-premise world.

Businesses putting greater emphasis on these issues are not good news for cloud service providers, since they will undoubtedly increase costs. However, they it may open up new professional services opportunities for solution providers who are still wrestling to define their role in the cloud computing era.

The simple fact is businesses deal with service outages, security breaches and data loss in their on-premise infrastructures all the time. That these issues are happening in the cloud shouldn’t come as a surprise, since the cloud is nothing more than a data center.