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ICT CLOUD

The Cloud Conundrum

t is a given that companies will, at some stage of their
development, consider options of moving into the cloud. There
Iare various views in the market about how to go about it.
We asked two experts at BCX, a Telkom company, Frans Basson,
managing executive cloud and infrastructure solutions and
Wayne Olsen, managing executive cyber security, for their views
about the various aspects of cloud.
Frans Basson is of the opinion that on-premise in the
current context is rarely the appropriate choice. It is only really
suitable for systems required near production equipment to
avoid connectivity delays or systems that need to be directly
connected to devices. However, current trends are to consume Frans Basson Wayne Olsen
these on-premise devices in the same manner as cloud solutions,
effectively meaning that edge computing is applied to on- could either be delivered by the cloud consumer or contracted to a
premise requirements. security provider (which could also be the cloud service provider).
Even if security is contracted from a security service provider,
The benefits derived from private cloud solutions addresses it is always a shared responsibility model. Therefore, even
multiple on-premise problems such as: though the security provider could provide the cloud consumer
• Skills gap – continued growth in the skills gap in South Africa with all the security services, the cloud consumer will always still
creates an environment where retention of scarce top level have accountability.
skills is increasingly difficult. Cloud providers (both hyper-
scalers and private cloud providers) can leverage top skills Security in the cloud?
across multiple platforms and customers, enabling a higher Can a company subscribe to security in the cloud? Olsen says
level of available skill while maintaining a cost-effective yes. All security requirements can be moved into the cloud.
solution. All major security solutions have cloud versions available, and
• Capex requirements – the cloud provider covers capex for most providers already deliver security services from cloud-
infrastructure and therefore the capex requirements of the based solutions. The optimal approach to moving the security
cloud consumer are reduced, transforming capex spend into requirements to the cloud is to select a provider that provides
opex spend at cheaper total cost of ownership (TCO) as no security services based on cloud-native security solutions.
spare capacity is required as with a capex model.
• Pay-per-use unit pricing/costs – unit pricing enables growth Quantum computing in the cloud
without long-term planning and up-front capex. Alternatively, Much has, over the past few years, been written about quantum
when consumption reduces, the cloud consumer is not computing. The complexity and ongoing development would
stranded with unused capacity, which has already been suggest that a cloud solution would be the obvious choice. We
procured as part of the capex process. The cloud consumer ask Frans Basson.
does not have to cater for spare capacity to accommodate Most hyper-scalers are said to have quantum computing
growth requirements. solutions available in varying levels of maturity. Companies can
benefit from quantum computing through significantly reducing
But what about security? the time to realise the outcomes of computational requirements,
Will the cloud provider take care of all the security requirements? enabling real-time business decisions. Pay-per-use models that
Wayne Olsen says no. This accountability could be split as follow: reduce the TCO of a quantum requirement would be the best
• The cloud consumer will always own the accountability for choice and are available.
policy definition and implementation. Quantum computing is best suited for applications where
• The security provider may provide the tools and services that orders of magnitude of higher processing capacity than high-
enable the cloud consumer to implement their policy. performance computing are required. Such applications would
include real-time AI solutions (including real-time image
Cloud providers ensure the security policy and implementation processing) and large-scale or complex mathematical and
of security software up to the service level (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS). Any scientific model generation. n
security above the service consumed would be the responsibility
of the cloud consumer. There are many aspects to cloud. If you have a question, send an
Security for the environment is not covered by the cloud email to hansv@nowmedia.co.za and we will find an expert with
provider but is the responsibility of the cloud consumer (CC) and an answer.

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