This entry was posted by Jim O'Farrell on August 24, 2010 at 10:22 pm under IT News.

A report recently released by AFCOM urges companies moving to the cloud and data center managers to consider security and data access as top priorities. Both of these issues are crucial to ensuring the success of any cloud compute initiative, as companies can only survive in the cloud if their data is secure.

Service-level agreements that make specific demands of cloud security will help prevent potential issues by clearly outlining the security protocol and expectations. Furthermore, it’s imperative to physically inspect the data center to avoid any hazards to servers or other hardware. Data loss is often addressed well in terms of network and server integrity, but physical issues can also pose threats.

“Today’s data center is a living, breathing entity that continues to grow. Data center managers are dealing with cramped facilities, massive data growth, tight budgets and archive mandates that have created nearly impossible storage requirements,” Jill Eckhaus, CEO of AFCOM, said. “Cloud computing works to contain these issues and make data centers more manageable and cost effective, but data centers will have to be prepared in order to leverage public clouds, or become a public or private cloud.”

SAP data management solutions in the cloud will help countless organizations move the cloud. However, with so much business-critical data stored in these solutions, it’s imperative that companies exercise caution.