What Are The Top 10 Myths Regarding Cloud Computing?

Many people believe that Cloud Computing is a kind of template solution that meets needs of everyone equally. Cloud does cater needs of different businesses but every business has different requirements and thus the solution for every problem also varies. With Cloud Computing providing solutions like:
Different deployment models
Service models
Operating models for a cloud solution

That means if you need a Cloud solution you will get one but one solution need not fit other problems.

Yes, virtualization is a key technology that enables cloud computing, but virtualization is not the only feature that does justice to Cloud. Virtualization is important for server and workload consolidation, something that helps you optimize infrastructure costs. Cloud is definitely lot more than that. Besides virtualization is more IaaS centric whereas cloud touches up on IaaS, PaaS, SaaS. Hence considering these two approaches as same wont be the best of things.

Cloud Vendors would definitely want to lock you in. But one must not forget the fact that Cloud offers you various customization. Whether it is about:
Deployment
Integration
Industry Standards

All these verticals are handled fairly smooth by cloud vendors with a lot of options to choose from. So better planning would definitely ensure you don’t get locked in.

The growth in technology has mostly resulted in people believing that the technology will take away human jobs. And more than often people have realized that it works the other way round. It is no different with cloud computing. People believe Cloud Computing will cost jobs, in fact, it will create more jobs.

The image above should give you a better picture:

The business that wish to, or are already harnessing Cloud Vendor services may have varying business needs and preferences. Also the vendors the companies rely on are something companies don’t want to let go off. This scenario might force certain companies to choose a different vendor altogether for different sections of their business.

The above claim though true, does not mean it is mandatory to opt for more than one cloud vendors parallely. Vendors these days provide a wide array of services to meet most of you needs under one roof.

Cloud is pre-dominantly used by Tech companies, this claim is understandable because Tech companies do prefer Cloud platforms to host their data and applications. However to claim that it can’t be used by or it is not meant for non tech companies is like shooting arrows at sky. Cloud offers hundred plus services and these services cater needs of different markets. So companies that have data and need someone to manage it, Cloud is open for all such companies

People claim that Cloud data centers consume a lot of power and also harm the environment in the process. Yes, data centers do consume huge amounts of energy. But looking at it from a broader perspective, you will realize that businesses move from on-site facilities to a more compact cloud data center, thus it saves energy and cuts pollution on the longer run.

The plethora of services out there ensure Cloud helps you meet most of your requirements. However nothing is full proof. There are many application that where designed keeping in mind traditional methods of computing. So migrating these applications to Cloud may not mean that these applications will work on Cloud as compatibly as they did in your previous environment. Also what about the businesses that follow traditional approach and are doing well. For them migration may not be that smooth.

So blindly believing Cloud will always solve all your computing problems may not be true

Cloud security has always been a topic of debate. There are a lot of reasons people fear data on Cloud may not be safe. Two of those are:

Fear of sharing same data center space

Fear of data loss due to outage

However Cloud ensures that all these fears are taken care of. Clouds these days provision shared security models where both, the vendors and customers have a say in the security compliance. Also introduction of private cloud means you may not always have to share your cloud space.

People also believe that Cloud is always cheaper. When used sensibly Cloud Computing will let you reap benefits at an affordable price. However it may not be the case always. Pay As You Go Model is fairly affordable for smaller and short term applications. On the longer run it may not be true for application that require a lot of resources.

That is why it is very important to have architects help you optimize the cost for your infrastructure before you move to Cloud.