Cloud Computing and my company's data

Question

I am looking into Cloud Computing for my company. The one question that I can't seem to get out of my head is; What happens to my data and the ability to use it if the Cloud computing company goes out of business?

Answer 1

Obviously, you should pick a provider that you think is solid and unlikely to go out of business however the real answer is that you should have a replacement provider lined up and a plan for how you're going to switch if the main provider goes bust. The key parts of such a plan are:

• Make sure you own and control the domain names, and use a completely independent provider to run your DNS
• Set up a completely automated backup system which moves all data off your primary provider.
• Have the backup provider ready-to-run at all times with just a DNS switch
• Test your switchover process periodically

An outsourced server farm is really no different to any other outsourced function. You just need to make sure you're not locked into a single supplier.

Answer 2

Pick a solid provider and make regular backups of your data outside of the cloud.

Answer 3

I would say that it depends on the company. I wouldn't assume anything about you being able to retrieve it if the company goes out of business. Even if you have a legal right to do so, it will probably take months of going through court orders and procedures to get at it after the company fails.

After the company goes bankrupt, I also wouldn't assume there would be any security protocols in place to protect it. Even if they say there will be, when a company goes under all bets are off.

A think to also remember is that even the most "well known" companies can fail in a heartbeat (Enron anyone). You never really know how well a company is doing until the financial statements (if any) are released.

Answer 4

Why don't you just keep a local backup of some sort? Also, you might want to stick with well known companies like Amazon where they probably wouldn't go out of business.

EDIT: As stated in the comments, even if Amazon stopped offering their cloud computing service it's unlikely that they wouldn't give users ample time to move their data off of their servers.