The real protection depends on having the right architecture for the right application. Organizations must understand the individual requirements of their applications.

An excellent starting point for an organization wishing to implement a cloud computing platform is to examine the current IT architecture. Only by aligning the applications architecture – computers, network, data center and storage resources, do you get to keep the company on track to achieve the reliability and performance necessary for a good cloud environment?

In the area of cloud computing, real protection depends on having the right architecture for the right application. Organizations must understand the individual requirements of their applications and, if already using a cloud platform, understand the corresponding cloud Computing architecture. With this knowledge, you can make decisions about what cloud platform responds to the needs of reliability and performance of your applications.

Listed here are five points to consider when evaluating cloud computing architectures:

Availability : Not all applications are equal, as all platforms are not on the same cloud. Organizations have to prioritize their applications, identifying those that must always be available and that may have breaks in service, and service breaks are acceptable. They must understand the risks associated with the unavailability of data. For applications that must always be available, it is necessary to consider high-quality technology and business class have been rigorously tested at the expense of developing an internal solution. It is also important to seek solutions for multi-site planning and disaster recovery / business continuity. For most organizations, this means working with a service integrator or a consulting firm, which includes these services in its core business.

Security : Security remains the primary concern for organizations looking to the cloud. Among the main concerns are loss of control of sensitive data, the risks associated with multi-user environments, and responding to various standards and compatibility needed. You must know how a multi-user shared environment is segmented in order to avoid overlapping customer service and breaking the boundaries that must be established between them. As the solution is architected, and the infrastructure of the Cloud service provider (network and virtualization platforms and storage) is secure.

Management : Organizations must understand what are their obligations, rather than just knowing what to expect from a service provider. Most Cloud solution providers do not support public administration. Or potential customers of these solutions have the expertise to design the right solution at home, or should seek the services of an outside vendor. There must always be an understanding of the level of management that their applications need and the identification of a process of changing management.

Performance : As in traditional hosting models, it is important to understand the requirements of workflow that will lie in the infrastructure. Organizations must also understand what their problems are and how is the cloud architecture that they have, or want to purchase. They must make their own tests to understand how a cloud environment can affect the computational resources, network and storage.

Compliance : Organizations must understand where their data is and who interacts with them, and how. They must understand the areas of compliance that the service provider controls and compare with the standards and regulations that they aim to join.