Microsoft Azure: Private Cloud for the Masses - Patriot Technologies, Inc.
Two weeks ago at its Worldwide Partners Conference, Microsoft announced that its Windows Azure Cloud computing platform would be made available in a hardware appliance form factor. This, they reasoned, will allow private enterprises, service providers and even government entities to create their own multi-tenant SaaS applications that can run in any data center.
While exciting news, especially for those companies that like the idea of software-as-a-service, but really want more privacy regarding their data access, this event also brings into focus the challenges of securing cloud applications.
Awareness and trust are lacking even among professionals who are familiar with cloud and may be responsible for securing enterprise systems and information. While cloud adoption is expected to grow, customer inexperience with cloud computing, security concerns (and in some cases, lack of concern) and uncertainty about governance could make it difficult for organizations to effectively implement cloud computing or realize full value from it.