Network provider admits customers still don't trust the cloud
By Stuart Turton in Hannover
Posted on 4 Mar 2010 at 12:12
Network provider Alcatel-Lucent has admitted that customers and businesses still don't trust the cloud with their data, and claimed the industry must follow the example of banks in convincing them.
"If you’re on holiday in Thailand and you want to buy something from a street market, you give them your credit card," Adolfo Hernandez, president of Alcatel-Lucent EMEA business, told delegates at CeBIT.
"Somebody takes that to the back room, and you feel okay about that. Why? It’s a matter of earned trust. The banks have created a system of guarantees that customers can believe in.
This would be a great time to start from scratch, but much of the infrastructure is already in place, so that’s not a choice. We need to transform these networks, and it's going to take work
"We need to create the same situation with data. As an industry we've been a little bit sloppy in convincing our customers," he said.
According to Hernandez, service providers, infrastructure providers, and software makers needed to provide a framework of cast-iron guarantees and regulations to ensure that customers felt comfortable housing their data in the cloud.
"We can get a long way with the encryption technology we use today, but we need to be as good as our banking brothers," he said.
Alongside the issue of security, he also warned that failure to invest adequately in the network could hamper the move to the cloud. "You need true broadband speeds to make cloud services work, and at the moment, in areas we’re not even set up to deliver 1Mbits/sec.
"We’re using a network that was designed for voice to delver massive amounts of data. This would be a great time to start from scratch, but much of the infrastructure is already in place, so that’s not a choice. We need to transform these networks, and it's going to take work."
From around the web
Erm no I dont!
"Somebody takes that to the back room, and you feel okay about that"
No really, I don't! The same with "cloud" storage, it's usefull and I use it as a secondary backup but the ONLY person I trust with my storage is ME!
By JStairmand on 4 Mar 2010 
"We’re using a network that was designed for voice to delver massive amounts of data."
Perhaps they should stop delvering and start delivering.
By ngc001 on 4 Mar 2010
I agree with JStairmand. If somebody wants to take my credit card to the back room in whatever country I don't trust them at all.
At least with your credit card you stand a chance, probably after a bit of hassle to get your money back.
If your data goes from the cloud what chance have you got. Every £ or $ is interchangeable. My data isn't.
What a dim witted comparison.
By kaneclem on 4 Mar 2010
SECURITY
Comments above are correct... a lot of people will copy your cards details given half the chance to create forgeries.
While "The banks have created a system of guarantees that customers can believe in." Have Taxpayers not just bailed them out because of their complacency.
"We need to create the same situation with data."... probably should read "We need to create the same ILLUSION OF SAFETY with data."
By lenmontieth on 4 Mar 2010
Why would anyone trust their data to the cloud? We are continuously bombarded by stories of high profile, highly reputable companies , many of them banks, having customer data stolen or go missing (latest was HSBC 3 days ago). There are programs (like broolz) that enable people to share and transfer files without the files going across the internet and being at the mercy of big brother. Trust needs to be earned, and in my view the large corporations have to do an awful lot more to earn mine.
By StoatMan on 16 Mar 2010
Why would anyone trust their data to the cloud? We are continuously bombarded by stories of high profile, highly reputable companies , many of them banks, having customer data stolen or go missing (latest was HSBC 3 days ago). There are programs (like broolz) that enable people to share and transfer files without the files going across the internet and being at the mercy of big brother. Trust needs to be earned, and in my view the large corporations have to do an awful lot more to earn mine.
By StoatMan on 17 Mar 2010
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