NetEvents: Cloud computing likened to 'signing your own death warrant'

For many IT leaders, moving to the cloud is like "signing your own death warrant", according to industry insiders addressing the NetEvents gathering in Barcelona yesterday.

"[Migrating to the cloud will] take time because it could be the CIO writing his or her death warrant by putting critical apps in the cloud," said Justin Fielder, CTO at Easynet Global Services.

"If these apps go down, the business goes down with it."

The safety of cloud computing remains a big concern, he said.

"Trust is the archilles heel for the cloud," said Fielder.

Other experts agreed.

"Trust is the main inhibitor to the cloud. People do not want to lose control," said Raul Chico, head of IT at BT Spain.

Despite the potential cost savings and reduced management overhead of cloud computing, CIOs are cautious about risking their own position to test it.

"The cloud is the equivalent to Shangri-La for IT departments. It is everything they would want their IT environment to be, yet we are still waiting for it to really take off," said Sean Hackett, research director, CloudScape, The 451 Group.

The potential to cut costs remains a strong attaction for potential users of the cloud, however.

"It has been around for a long time and is being driven by cost," said David Hill, vice-president EMEA for Spirent Communications.

"People don't necessarily know what they want [from the cloud] but they know they need to reduce cost to remain competitive," he added.