Sara Michael — From time to time right around when the seasons change, the Hospice of Chesapeake loses power and the single Internet connection line in their Annapolis headquarters.

This can be particularly troublesome for staff at the five locations and clinicians in the field who rely on this connection to update patients’ electronic medical records.

The Hospice of Chesapeake is among a growing number of organizations and businesses opting for cloud computing.

Cloud computing allows organizations to access files and applications over the Internet, rather than hosting hardware and servers onsite. A company hosts the files, hardware and base operating system offsite, and the resources are scalable to meet an entity’s changing needs for computer power.

“If our connection is dropped here in Annapolis, they can’t sync, and they won’t have the latest information,” said John Rothamel, director of information services for the nonprofit hospice care organization.

The critical need for availability and connectivity convinced Rothamel and his colleagues that they needed to get the data out of the office and into the cloud.

For the Hospice of Chesapeake, which this fall will migrate to servers hosted offsite by Annapolis-based Sidus Group, the solution will save them money – particularly when they would have needed to invest in new hardware – but really the benefits are in the redundancy of Internet connection and power.

“It was attractive to us to move to the cloud,” he said. “No matter what happened to this office our clinicians can still access patient data. It’s really critical.”

For Bob Katzen, chief financial officer and chief compliance officer at Bethesda-based Ithaka Group, an investment management firm, data continuity is a matter of federal regulation. The Security and Exchange Commission requires financial companies to have solid business continuity plans to avoid data loss, he said.

“We are required to be able to provide people with their information and be in business,” Katzen said.

His staff also travels a lot, and they need to be able to access their data anywhere. Cloud computing was the best solution for his company, and they selected Baltimore-based Analysys Enterprises Inc.

This solution allows Ithaka Group’s employees to access data remotely, ensure redundancy of information, and avoid the costs of hiring dedicated IT staff or maintaining up-to-date hardware.

“You are not limited by the functionality of the desk you’re sitting in,” said Steve Kolbe, founder and president of Analysys.

Cloud computing also allows businesses to use only the IT resources they need, and scale up or down depending on the growth of the company.

“Companies tend to over-spec everything to fit their budget,” said Jason Silva, chief operating officer for Sidus Group. “This allows us to provide resources on demand.”

The approach is not without skeptics, and much of the concern has centered on data security and reliability.

But as Kolbe explained, the level of physical and virtual security provided by the cloud computing professionals often far outstrip the security at a regular company’s facility. At Analysys’ data center, the servers are well-secured with controlled access and video monitoring, Kolbe said.

“We make a business out of doing this, so we’ve built this network with security in mind,” he said.
Similarly, hosting companies have taken care of data continuity. As Silva notes, the pooled hard drive resources mean they could have several servers fail without any impact on the clients.

Cloud computing is surely to continue growing in popularity, especially now that technology giants like IBM and Dell are throwing their weight behind the effort.

“You need to get out of your comfort zone,” Rothamel said to any wary businesses. “The good old standby is passing quickly.”

Considering the cloud

Before diving into cloud computing, look before you leap. That’s the advice of Thomas Glaser, vice president of information technology at Howard Community College, who has done extensive research on cloud computing while determining whether it’s the right direction for his organization.

Glaser mulled questions about whether the data would be secure, where it would be housed, and what assurances would be in place to guarantee data reliability.

His advice for technology directors and others eyeing the cloud is to pay close attention to the service level agreements from the company hosting the data. It’s a partnership not to be entered into lightly.

“It’s really a matter of investigating and developing a relationship. You really need to do due diligence,” Glaser said.

For Howard Community College opting for cloud computing has clear benefits. In addition to saving on the infrastructure investments, the college staff doesn’t have expertise in all technology platforms. But by relieving some of those IT duties staff can focus on developing new applications and services for their clients, Glaser said.

But, Glaser cautions organizations to do their homework on the approach and companies providing it, ensure agreements are in place for reliable service, and be “smart IT consumers.”

— December 2009 print edition