Cloud IT Week in Review: 451 Research, FireMon, FortyCloud & More

By Alicia Young
Web Editor

Welcome back to the Week in Review, where we take a look at all the top stories making headlines in Cloud IT this week.

The week started off with some insights from 451 Research (News - Alert) regarding the costs and considerations of different cloud options. According to the company, OpenStack is the winner when it comes to labor efficiency and in terms of cost over do-it-yourself solutions. 451 Research says that public clouds are the least wasteful option during their lifetimes due to the fact they don’t require upfront investments, and the firm notes the private cloud is challenging in that getting the correct capacity and human and other resources just right can be difficult. You can find more insights from 451 Research HERE.

Speaking of the different kinds of cloud offerings, did you know that you should turn off your public cloud servers when not in use? It may be the easiest option to just leave it running, but this could actually be dangerous for your business. Special guest contributor Jay Chapel, Co-founder and CEO of ParkMyCloud, offers five reasons as to why it’s important to shut off these servers when they’re not in use. Check out his reasoning HERE.

In the previous article, Chapel brings up security issues in businesses. Cybersecurity is a problem everywhere, whether you’re working at a small business or in government. It’s shocking to think that even our government has problems with cybersecurity, though. Shouldn’t the government, of all things, be as secure as possible? Lindsey Patterson raises this question in her latest article, and wonders whether the real problem with effective cybersecurity is funding. You can find out more HERE.

Finally, the week rounded out with the news that FireMon is acquiring FortyCloud in order to address cloud security. It’s great that companies are migrating to the cloud, but as more and more choose to do so, security becomes a problem. There’s some good and bad news here. The bad news is that most cloud security issues are the fault of the individual organization, through a lack of understanding or inefficient hardware. The good news is that companies can recognize their weaknesses and work to improve them. By acquiring FortyCloud, FireMon is hoping to raise awareness and provide solutions to help with the problem. Find out more HERE.

While a variety of topics have been highlighted here, that’s certainly not all that went on this week. Be sure to head to Cloud IT  for all the updates, and come back next week for the latest insights. Have a great weekend!