Virtual Private Clouds

VPC's.  Why not?  Web 2.0 is confusing.  Everything 2.0 is confusing.  Clouds are confusing.

Everyone knows what a VPN is though.  So if a cloud is some magic utility or service in the ether, how about we talk about it in terms people care about?  People care that their stuff is secure, that they can get it when they need it, and that we can trust those who are responsible for it.  I don't care how a cloud is formed or morphed any more than I care about the exact path the electricity took from where it was made to the outlet I plugged into.  I care that both are there if and when I want them.

We believe, right or wrong, that if we are in a hotel room in Shanghai, as long as we are connected to our VPN that all our worries are gone.  Right or wrong, we trust that since our IT department works for us, and our VPN came from them, that all the bits that move to and fro on that connection are not available to prying eyes, and are protected and secured when they land.

The cloud isn't a place to run an application or house my virtual disk - it's a virtual place I have entrusted with my precious bits.  Make me comfortable and I am yours.  Screw me up and I'll hold it against you forever.

Cloud companies shouldn't sell services or capacity or cycles or bandwidth.  They should sell Insurance.  They should sell warm and fuzzies.  They should sell big comfy blankets and hot cocoa.  Everyone buys big fuzzy blankets and hot cocoa.

Comments

[StevePR104]

Steve:
And you've nailed it on why enterprises aren't embracing the cloud. Not yet, anyway. They don't know where the data is being stored...they don't know who else is sharing the cloud-based data center with them, they aren't sure (SLAs notwithstanding) about the level of security. And that's doubly important in the era of SOX, PCI DSS, HIPAA and more.

[Linux VPS]

Which is better Xen or VMware? Does Xen have an open source backend for user-based access and maintenance?

-----Not sure what you are asking. You can use the open source XEN hypervisor and do what you will with it, or you can use the free VMware which has tools with it. I assume that by "user" you mean "IT guy", if not, why on earth would you ever want a user screwing around with stuff like that? Canadians are sooooo trusting! ----Steve