Storage Provisioning and Networking - Deploying and Managing a Cloud Infrastructure - page 283

collected and/or further processed. However, it must be ensured that the data is accurate and,
where necessary, kept up-to-date.
One important but generally overlooked problem with data on the cloud is “possession
of data.” Different cloud storage providers take different positions on this matter. If the
provider is the possessor of the data, then the possessor has certain legal rights. This, how-
ever, compromises rights of individuals who actually own the data.
Another position for a company is to be a custodian of the data it keeps. In such a case,
a different set of rules and rights would apply. Terms of service agreements provided by the
cloud computing service providers are either silent or ambiguous on the question of owner-
ship. These agreements should also address what happens when either party (cloud or user)
decides to terminate or end the service. The state of the data may become blurred in case of
provider insolvencies.
Supplier Lifetime (Vendor Lock-In)
Many cloud platforms and services are proprietary because they are built on specific stan-
dards and protocols by particular vendors for particular cloud offerings. Migrating from a
proprietary cloud platform can become extremely complicated and even expensive for cus-
tomers wishing to take the journey. This is typically referred to as vendor lock-in and is not
specific to cloud computing.
Three types of vendor lock-in can occur:
Platform Lock-In Cloud services are built on virtualization platforms such as VMware,
Xen, and VirtualBox. Migrating from one to another is not trivial. There is software that
might not work, and there are services that might fail and hardware that might not perform
the same way.
Tools Lock-In Different cloud service providers use different tools that are designed
specifically to manage their own kind of cloud infrastructure. These tools might not
work on a different kind of virtual environment.
Data Lock-In Data ownership conundrum could cause problems in migrating to another
cloud service provider. Acquisition of a service-supplying cloud provider by another com-
pany could cause problems because the original service agreement (issued by the acquired
company) might not hold any longer.
Heterogeneous cloud computing is a platform that prevents vendor lock-in. Cloud
storage gateways provide enterprises with the ability to operate multiple clouds transpar-
ently through a unified cloud management system. Companies can choose from among
various hypervisors to accomplish their infrastructural goals.
Heterogeneous cloud systems also provide the ability to prevent incompatible APIs
to cause vendor lock-in because the data spread is usually consolidated across multiple
vendors.