Amazon Web Services

Despite Amazon’s recent outage, the company continues to offer attractive cloud storage features tailored for small businesses. Amazon is a top choice for small business ventures because customers are not required to purchase hardware. Instead, users pay a small fee each month to access Amazon’s infrastructure in a cloud computing environment.  Customers have the ability to order computing services and storage on an as-needed basis to meet individual hosting needs. Amazon places computing power in the control of the customers as they can add or remove processing power and storage space in real time as well as delivering several layers of security to protect valuable data. Amazon is a great pay-as-you-grow cloud hosting option.

Office 365

Microsoft just recently threw its proverbial hat into the cloud ring introducing Office 365. Small business owners opting for Office 365 have access to all of MS Office’s applications without the need to install the actual software on computers or servers.  Users are granted access to documents, contacts, e-mail, and calendars to devices connected to the Internet. Office 365 is available for a very affordable $6 per month.  It’s best suited for small businesses employing less than 25 employees and don’t have an IT employee on staff.  In addition to the 25 GB mailbox, users benefit from the ability to edit documents and spreadsheets simultaneously.  Additionally, users have access to PC-to-PC audio, instant messaging, and video calls.

Google Apps

Google also offers cloud storage services designed for small business owners. Google is a bit more established than Microsoft, offering cloud apps now for over a year. Google’s cloud services are very similar to Microsoft’s cloud plan.  Users  are granted customized e-mail addresses, calendar, mobile e-mail, IM access, Google Sites, Google Docs, spam filtering, 24/7 customer support and 99.9% guaranteed uptime.  Google’s cloud services are available for an affordable $5 per month.

Apple’s iCloud

Although not currently available as Apple is scheduled to unveil iCloud in Fall 2011.  Apple’s iCloud is best described as “an online hard drive on steroids”.   iCloud will offer users a vast array of features such as storing music, photos, apps, documents and other data online.  Additionally, it will deliver services wireless to laptops, iPad, or smartphones.  Similar to Microsoft and Google, iCloud will grant access to e-mails, calendars, and contacts as well as allowing multiple users to edit documents simultaneously.

Dropbox.com

Finally, a newcomer to the cloud industry, Dropbox is a cloud storage service provider to watch. Dropbox allows users to store important files on the provider’s secure website, easily accessible via Windows, Linux, Mac, iPad, Android/BlackBerry phones, and iPhone. Other attractive features include the fact the service is free for 2 GB of storage space, $9.99/month for 50 GB of storage, and $19.99/month for 100 GB of storage.  Dropbox also works without the need to be connected to the Internet.  Furthermore, users can opt to transfer part of a huge file or manually set bandwidth limits to prevent crashing servers. Like the previous providers, users can also work simultaneously on documents.

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Improved Access

The main premise of this collaboration is to provide improved access to content between employees through mobile devices, tablets, netbooks, iOS and Android software. This new service allows companies to seamlessly transfer content between Box’s cloud storage system and an in-house enterprise content management system. For instance, if an employee transfers a photo into a folder on a laptop, it will also appear on a Box software-enabled iPhone.

Link to Other Systems

ECM Cloud Connect currently links Box to over 40 other systems including popular content management systems like Microsoft SharePoint and EMC Documentum. The software basically allows users to create, modify, share and access files from any location, at any time on any device supported by the software. This is the definition of total integration technology.

The initial Box software provided a cloud platform for the storage and sharing of data with the ability to access that data from a variety of devices. However, the platform lacked one specific component; a connector which linked it to enterprise content management systems. This is where EntropySoft entered the equation.

Reluctance to Change

Through business analysis, these two companies discovered that most organizations already have a content management system and use them for records management, workflow and asset management. Therefore, they are hesitant to abandon their current system and migrate all their data to a cloud-based platform. Cloud Connect allows them to keep their current system and reap the benefits of cloud computing.

Compliance Policies

Additionally, Box assists with compliance and corporate records-management as well as archiving policies for all content on their storage platform. Utilizing Cloud Connect software sanctions new, existing and future customers to synchronize content between Box and the 40 in-house content management systems.

Applications Marketplace

Furthermore, Box boasts a unique applications marketplace with over 150 partner applications like Google Apps, Salesforce and NetSuite. This expands the amount of flexibility and customization that accompanies the software.

The Cloud Connect software is an excellent addition to Box’s innovative products. This highly-necessary product will take those in all industries one step closer to being a fully integrated unit of communication and information.

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The Infamous Twitter Hack

What is being dubbed as the “Twitter Hack” has some questioning whether security is an issue for the phenomenon that is cloud computing.  The incident that sparked the debate was actually the hacking of a Google Apps account belonging to a Twitter employee.  It has been reported that the exploit occurred because one of Twitter’s co-founders create a password for Google Apps that was easily guessed by a hacker.  This in turn, enabled the hacker to access the user’s personal information, including the data on his wife’s personal computer.

A War of the Words

Andy Cordial, managing director of data storage solutions firm Origin Storage, stated that a large number of companies and their employees are becoming victims of the cloud.  Cordial’s logic is that because cloud computing is so prevalent, businesses are being rushed into it and forced “to adapt their IT security systems on the fly.” He remarked that Origin Storage saw the shift in the business industry on the horizon and that all the security “breaches occurring on the cloud front” is proof that there are discrepancies that still need to be resolved.  Although the cloud shouldn’t necessarily take all the blame for the most recent debacle, the news isn’t certainly isn’t making anyone feel any better about the overall security of Twitter or Google Apps.

Evan Williams, the Twitter co-founder who essentially caused his wife’s Gmail webmail account to be compromised, explained to blog site TechCrunch, that the hack was absolutely not due to a lack of security on the part of Twitter.  However, Andy Cordial stressed that if Twitter would have paid more focus on security rather than growing their user base at all cost, the company wouldn’t be in the midst of a such an embarrassing situation.  Cordial added that implementing encryption into an organization’s data storage arrangement, be it in on or off the cloud, will ensure that information stored on the server and in transit is protected from malicious intent.  His final shot at the Twitter co-founder was that creating a secure password on top of encryption and sound corporate policies would have likely prevented the matter.  However, it should be stated that it was personal user accounts, not business accounts that were compromised.

Who’s to Blame?

Who should take the bullet for the so-called Twitter Hack?  Is it really the fault of the cloud, or should blame lie with Google apps or the victim?  While it is probably a good combination of all parties, one would think that a co-founder and active member of what is arguably the most popular social networking platform of the moment would have the know-how to be a little more responsible.   In any event, this breach probably will not convince many of the users who are still concerned about internet security any time soon.

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