Learning from the Past : Cloud in 2017
David Linthicum
How data outages , security hacks and new laws enacted in 2016 will prepare us for the year ahead .
Most of us in IT consider cloud computing a game changer . Some view it as disruptive ; others view it as evolutionary . No matter where you come from , in terms of what cloud computing means , it is helpful to understand what happened , and what will likely happen .
This article outlines events in 2016 that affected cloud adoption , and how I predict things will likely turn out in 2017 .
Lessons Learned - 2016
As we transition into 2017 , how will the events of 2016 impact enterprises going forward ? In the spirit of , “ Those who do not study the past are doomed to repeat it ,” let ’ s look at the major cloud-related events of 2016 :
• Delta Data Outage
• DNC Hacks
• Brexit ( border laws )
• First Generations Cloud Implementations
Delta uary 29th of this year . If you were , you know that Delta ’ s systems experienced a meltdown , and , of course , passengers bore the brunt of the pain in the form of hundreds of canceled and delayed flights .
When Delta performed a postmortem on this outage , it found that the outage was caused by a common occurrence : network failure . However , Delta could not recover or switch to backup systems . Delta ’ s CEO admitted as much , telling the Wall Street Journal that , “ It ’ s not clear the priorities in our investment have been in the right place . It has caused us to ask a lot of questions which candidly we don ’ t have a lot of answers for .”
What happened at Delta devalued the business by many millions perhaps billions of dollars in a short period of time . The cost of some redundant cloud , or non-cloud backup systems would have paid for themselves a million fold . It is a hard lesson learned that will change Delta forever .
What can be learned from this event and others is the need to anticipate issues ahead of time . By creating redundant systems that could have taken over without passengers and employees even noticing , Delta could have avoided an event that basically broke their business . I suspect they are working hard to add this now , or else risk another outage that customers will consider a clear pattern of corporate negligence .
I hope you weren ’ t flying Delta at the time of its first large systems outage last August or its second on Jan-
6 | THE DOPPLER | WINTER 2017