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Is the “Cloud” Really the Right Solution for Me?

June 19, 2014

I can’t tell you how many times I have answered the question or some variant of it. I hate to break it to the readers, but the answer is it depends. Those who know me well know that I am not a big fan of using public cloud services, especially if you don’t control the encryption or access. We are now confronted with a new approach to pushing cloud services. Amazon, the 800 pound gorilla of cloud services, is now attacking installations of those using VMware. In a recent ZDNet post, Amazon Web Services wants you to use their management console to migrate VMware virtual machines over to the Amazon services.

Call me crazy, but I’m not inclined to hand over control of a computing environment that I control to someone (a.k.a. Amazon) that doesn’t give a hoot about my privacy or whether my data should be handed over to the NSA. Sorry, but I like to control my encryption keys, restrict access as I see fit and take any steps possible to prevent unauthorized access. My recommendation is to keep control of as much of your data as possible. That means keeping virtual machines in your control and not handing them over to Amazon.

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