Fear of data leakage drives businesses to private rather than public cloud
Wed 2 Apr 2014
Almost two in every three enterprises would prefer private cloud storage solutions over public cloud.
That’s according to a new research study of 200 IT professionals conducted in early 2014 by independent panel research firm Research Now.
It found organisations are racing to establish contemporary cloud storage solutions that they can control. Of organisations that have implemented or are considering a file sync & share (FSS) offering, 63% indicated that they favour a private cloud storage solution. This could be run either on hosted (“virtual private”) infrastructure or in their own data centre, with larger enterprises of 10,000 employees or more preferring a completely private cloud.
Storage company CTERA, which commissioned the research, said enterprises are moving quickly to deliver the collaborative and mobility benefits of cloud storage while also meeting their own internal control and privacy policies.
The research found that one in four organisations has already implemented private cloud file sync & share tools and one in five organisations has implemented cloud storage gateways. It also revealed that 45% are considering private cloud file sync & share tools and 38% are considering implementing cloud storage gateways.
CTERA said cloud application storage offerings are creating organisational havoc with data leakage, especially on unsanctioned public file sharing services – 31% of respondents experienced corporate data leakage in 2013 as a result of employees sharing files via often unsanctioned FSS services and 71% said they are concerned or extremely concerned about data breaches. More than half of the surveyed organisations with more than 30,000 employees forbid the usage of SaaS-based file-sharing solutions.
“Enterprises are seeking ways to capitalise on the benefits that cloud storage can provide, but not at the cost of losing control of their data. The market is flooded with SaaS offerings, but solutions that can scale on private and hybrid clouds are in short supply,” said Rani Osnat, VP of strategic marketing & customer experience at CTERA.
“This independent research validates what we have been hearing from our customers: a clear preference for a platform they can manage and run using the infrastructure of their choice, with both enterprise-grade security and compelling end-user experience.”
* CTERA’s 2014 Enterprise Cloud Storage Report
