Own your own jet
- By David Snead on November 20, 2008
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FacebookToday at the Virtualization and Cloud Computing Expo, Songnian Zhou made the analogy that traditional server allocation is like owning your own jet: traditionally, each company owns its own servers, because every once in a while, they need the full capacity; similarly, you can own your own jet, because every once in a while you need to go somewhere. Each may be an example of poor resource allocation.
This is a great analogy. I spoke yesterday on the topic of legal risks inherent in virtualization and cloud/grid computing. One of the most important issues I asked attendees to consider, was the fact that they would be using distributed computing assets, as would their customers. This shared use of resources requires a different legal analysis.
The first analysis is to analyze who is processing and touching data. Privacy and security are likely to be much bigger issues with virtualized/cloud/grid (VCG) computing. There is substantial precedent in the U.S. and EU that regulatory agencies will look to each processor, or handler, of data to ensure its security and privacy. Indeed, both U.S. and EU regulatory agencies believe that privacy policies follow the data. It is reasonable to believe that they will require VCG computing companies to ensure the privacy of data that they handle, and enforce privacy and security policies that the represent to their end users that they will follow.
A second analysis is vendor based. VCG computing requires high reliability. When your customer hands off their server to you with your promise of an infinitely scalable solution, they are going to demand that. If your bandwidth, hardware and computing resources providers cannot do this, or, more likely, if their services are unreliable, you will be on the hook for their failings.
Third is contract based. Your dedicated/colo contracts are not scalable to VCG computing. Indeed, it will not be enough to go to 3Tera or Mosso’s websites and “borrow” their contracts. Because VCG computing is not standardized, and completely tailored to each provider’s situation, you need to think broadly about your contracts. While your prior contracts will provide a great base to start, they need to be refined to meet and respond to your unique VCG situation.
David Snead is a lawyer whose practice is focused on internet infrastructure providers. In his eleven years in this practice, he has represented clients including multinationals, middle tier hosting companies, and two guys, a server, a T-1 and a huge MasterCard balance. A long-time WHIR contribut... (Read full bio)
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Comment by Anonymous on Friday, November 21, 2008
Yes, why own a jet when you can own a time share or a seat on a jet, and use it only when you need it? That's the magic of cloud computing. Use it and pay for it only when you need it. Check out Mosso's cloud services to see how you can get the benefits of owning a jet, without owning a jet.
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