An industry watchdog which can police the cloud computing market is needed to avoid enterprises coming unstuck when offloading their computing to a cloud provider, according to industry research specialist Longhaus.

 

Longhaus has just completed a survey of the sector and ranked the top 34 providers in Australia, and says such a watchdog could help keep the industry honest and secure.

 

According to Longhaus research director Sam Higgins there is still evidence of companies which have long provided hosting services hanging up a shingle and re-inventing themselves as cloud computer providers. In many cases this was just a case of “cloud washing” he said, as organisations hitched a ride on the cloud phenomenon.

 

“We do need some self regulation,” he said.

 

“The lack of regulation is a concern – cloud computing requires a lot of capital, good risk management and the highest security levels,” he said.

 

Without an industry body that takes on oversight and policing of the sector there were risks for cloud consumers who were reliant solely on the bona fides of their supplier, not all of which were entirely transparent.

 

He said that even among the leading cloud vendors in Australia there were some unacceptable terms and conditions on offer, especially when it came to restitution available if the cloud failed.

 

Those companies which did not offer restitution “shouldn’t be allowed to market themselves as a cloud."

 

“If we had a cloud body then those that don’t could be kicked out. You have to wonder about Infrastructure as a Service providers – including Google that say you will get a service level refund if you tell me we have missed the service level.

 

The Australian Information Industry Association is also exploring the idea of a watchdog.