In my last blog I explored aspects of the cost-benefit of cloud storage. One key aspect I was hoping would generate some comments was whether people perceive the Internet as an effective link to cloud services.
I am guessing from the lack of comments that (a) this isn’t a very exciting topic, or (b) people haven’t given it much attention yet since it may not yet be a priority. I am hoping it is the latter! In any event, there is much interest in cloud services, so how one connects to those services should be of some interest. In a recent conversation on the subject, a colleague raised the question of whether concerns with performance could be addressed by means of SLA’s (Service Level Agreement).
If one were to implement an SLA for network interface performance using the internet, does that assure the user of a certain level of performance, and provide a means of rectification if that level of performance is not achieved? And, more importantly, does this offset the need for a private connection that is inherently more expensive?
As I previously discussed, overall performance can be dependent on both the ISP as well as the cloud application provider. The network connection could be great, and yet performance could suffer if the cloud application server bandwidth were inadequate. If the cloud application provider is confident enough of their application to offer an SLA, then they are putting their faith in the ISP to provide adequate performance levels to meet the user expectation.
So once again I ask, is this a non-issue? Or, are we so early on the application of cloud computing and storage that no one has given it much thought? I would really like to have both users and cloud storage providers weigh in on this. There are a number of players that have either been providing remote storage services or are looking to get into the market. I am curious as to how the price point of such services will be impacted by internet connectivity versus private connections. Would SLA’s make it more attractive to use the internet?
Does anyone care to share their opinion?
