Utilizing
the cloud has become a normal part of business and professional life,
especially for big companies. Whether they handle technology, sensitive
information or just cooking recipes, the cloud is too useful to simply skip
over for a modern business. However, choosing a cloud to fit your needs can be
a little tough, not to mention pricey.
Competitors
exist for every format, including the very cloud itself. In this case, however,
you'll get a knock-off version referred to as cloud washing since these models
take all the good things about the cloud and wash them out.
Choosing
the cloud for your business shouldn't feel so difficult, complicated or easily
confusing. To avoid this simple trap, you have to know how to identify cloud
washing and take steps to avoid the practice at all costs.
What Is Cloud Washing?
Cloud
washing, sometimes written as cloudwashing, means to take legacy software and
run it as if it were on a cloud instance. Legacy software refers to computing
systems that are out of date, so your legacy cloud won't be compatible with all
your new software or have all the features you could have gotten otherwise.
Most cloud washing techniques include a vendor hosting their existing packaged software
and calling this a cloud because they're in a virtualized data center.
While
the actual cloud often works as a service, whether it be software, platform or
infrastructure, cloud washing does nothing as a service and gives out products.
Since the term cloud is used so widely, many people get fooled into thinking
they'll get an actual cloud service, or worse, that cloud washing is the cloud.
There
are some signs to tell if you're getting cloud washing or the cloud. If they
have a lot of server prerequisites, remote application software and complex
requirements to enable other applications, then you could get in a trap.
Getting out is as easy as changing providers, but finding the right ones in the
first place is tricky.
Signs to Help Avoid Cloud Washing
Other
signs of cloud washing are not as obvious or easily determined. You can still
check to make sure if you have initial doubts, but these may take a little
effort to uncover.
1.
If
the other customers run customized applications, then they might be in on the
cloud washing.
2.
Many
issues will come down to money, such as requiring you to purchase a special cloud server
to run their version of the cloud or providing a complex pricing structure.
3.
Time
will also turn into a problem. If their audits aren't planned out, applications
take years to update or their systems take more than a few seconds to add new
users, then it's most likely a case of cloud washing.
4.
Referring
to applications as cloud-based when they have to run on a browser might as well
be a flashing neon sign.
5.
No
unification among applications, such as security or inconsistent interfacing
across devices is further proof of not being a cloud.
6.
If
what they're trying to market really is the cloud, then they won't have to
market very hard. If they overuse the term cloud, have indecipherable jargon or
push their service without showing prices immediately, then they're also likely
not a cloud. A real cloud service won't have to sell you their product except
against other competition.
Cloud Washing Versus Cloud Native
Cloud
native is the term for an actual cloud, but it's more precise. The National
Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) differentiates this from cloud
washing by defining cloud native as having
three service models and four types of deployment. The three models include
software-as-a-service or SaaS, platform-as-a-service, or PaaS, and
infrastructure-as-a-service, or IaaS. The deployment types are private, public,
community and hybrid.
Thanks
to the NIST's specific definition, catching cloud washing is much easier.
However, actual cloud natives can still get caught in the crossfire. So long as
they're configurable and pooling applications, then they can still be
considered cloud native but not by NIST standards.
At
the same time, these examples aren't cloud washing either. The line is quite
broad on the differences between these two terms which is detrimental to
initially picking a cloud for your business.
Finding Your Cloud
You're
always better safe than sorry. If the process you're looking into doesn't have
a sign of being cloud washing but doesn't exactly meet the NIST standards of
being cloud native, then you may be better off looking elsewhere.
The
process is often confusing, sadly, as choosing a cloud means putting a lot of
trust into the provider. The easiest and safest thing to do is find a provider
with the NIST cloud native rules and go from there.
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About the Author
Kayla Matthews is a tech-loving blogger who writes and edits ProductivityBytes.com. Follow her on Twitter @productibytes to read all of her latest posts!