What makes education different from any other business with hundreds or thousands of users? The economics are all the same, so why wouldn’t the education industry be able to benefit from the advantages of cloud computing like other organizations? A recent article in Campus Technology entitled, “Is Cloud Computing a Credible Solution for Education?” visits that subject.
Bruce Schneier points out that cloud computing is really nothing new. Hotmail and Gmail have been doing it for a long time; social networking sites, remote backup companies and remote email filtering companies have also been in on the game. Schneier says, “Any IT outsourcing—network infrastructure, security monitoring, remote hosting—is a form of cloud computing.”
Cloud Computing provides computer applications to users without the need to purchase, install or support those application. The software and data is hosted on a remote computer. Infrastructure-as-a-service providers such as BlueLock are able to provide substantial financial advantages as well as increased IT agility, improving collaboration and innovation within that organization. And we’ve done that for higher education organizations already.
Gartner Group blogger Thomas Bittman said this: "The Web, social software and cloud computing will definitely have an impact on enterprise IT--but the impact on our educational system will be astounding, and many in our educational system don't see it coming."
But the downside…
Schneier also cautioned that cloud computing forces reliance on a third party, which may not always be the best idea. Why? Because when the computer is outside your network, you’re not able to protect it with security systems like firewalls and IDSs. Not only that but you have to trust your vendor completely – its security, reliability, availability and business continuity.
That’s not a downside at BlueLock.
So yes, you’ll have to rely on us, a third party. But we install firewalls and IDSs and most likely take more security precautions than you are already taking. We are SAS 70 and PCI compliant. Not only that, but we provide SLA with promised uptimes of 99.99%, in case you’re worried about availability. As for business continuity, we’ve got that too, and at a fraction of the cost. You can click here to learn more about our virtual disaster recovery solutions. And most importantly, the trust issue. Our clients view us as a trusted advisor. We don’t want to be just another vendor; we want to be an extension of your organization, a partner. That’s our goal (and we tend to hit goals over here).
And when it comes right down to successes in the education industry, just click here to read our case study on Marian University. You could say they were more than pleased with what we were able to do for them.
Bruce Schneier points out that cloud computing is really nothing new. Hotmail and Gmail have been doing it for a long time; social networking sites, remote backup companies and remote email filtering companies have also been in on the game. Schneier says, “Any IT outsourcing—network infrastructure, security monitoring, remote hosting—is a form of cloud computing.”
Cloud Computing provides computer applications to users without the need to purchase, install or support those application. The software and data is hosted on a remote computer. Infrastructure-as-a-service providers such as BlueLock are able to provide substantial financial advantages as well as increased IT agility, improving collaboration and innovation within that organization. And we’ve done that for higher education organizations already.
Gartner Group blogger Thomas Bittman said this: "The Web, social software and cloud computing will definitely have an impact on enterprise IT--but the impact on our educational system will be astounding, and many in our educational system don't see it coming."
But the downside…
Schneier also cautioned that cloud computing forces reliance on a third party, which may not always be the best idea. Why? Because when the computer is outside your network, you’re not able to protect it with security systems like firewalls and IDSs. Not only that but you have to trust your vendor completely – its security, reliability, availability and business continuity.
That’s not a downside at BlueLock.
So yes, you’ll have to rely on us, a third party. But we install firewalls and IDSs and most likely take more security precautions than you are already taking. We are SAS 70 and PCI compliant. Not only that, but we provide SLA with promised uptimes of 99.99%, in case you’re worried about availability. As for business continuity, we’ve got that too, and at a fraction of the cost. You can click here to learn more about our virtual disaster recovery solutions. And most importantly, the trust issue. Our clients view us as a trusted advisor. We don’t want to be just another vendor; we want to be an extension of your organization, a partner. That’s our goal (and we tend to hit goals over here).
And when it comes right down to successes in the education industry, just click here to read our case study on Marian University. You could say they were more than pleased with what we were able to do for them.
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