January 2010

Harness Cloud Computing with Network Monitoring

According to recent research by Gartner, virtualization, cloud computing, Web 2.0, networking and mobility have been identified as the top priorities for CIOs in 2010.

While providing increased IT flexibility and potentially lowering costs, cloud computing shifts IT management priorities from the network core to the WAN/Internet connection. Without adequate monitoring and reporting, network security and adequate bandwidth capacity can potentially become a very serious problem.

What questions should you ask a potential Cloud Vendor and your IT/Network Manager to be certain your network is secure and has the capacity to capitalize on the benefits of Cloud Computing?

Questions for your Cloud vendor

	What is their approach to securing your data?
	How do they monitor data security?
	What SLAs are in place?
	Do they report on how well the service is performing and its impact on your bandwidth?
	What contingencies are in place if their services go down?
Questions for your IT/Network Manager
	What measures are in place to monitor and report on threats to the security and stability of our network?
	Do we have visibility into network traffic flows and application performance?
	Can we independently monitor service level metrics?
	Can we accurately measure current and future bandwidth requirements?
	Can we chargeback customers and/or lines of business for proportionate bandwidth?
Deploying a sound network and application monitoring and reporting solution such as nMetrics will safeguard your infrastructure and enable you to take advantage of all the benefits of Cloud Computing. To find out more, contact Steve Urquhart at  +61 2 8338 1988  +61 2 8338 1988 or surquhart@nmetrics.net.