Boosting Data Privacy With Better Private Clouds

Serious business generates serious data. And managing that data securely has become one of the defining operational challenges for enterprise leadership across industries.

As organizations of all sizes recognize the obvious advantages of cloud-based application delivery — encompassing Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) models — the need to retain tight control over large volumes of sensitive data has fuelled a growing interest in private, cloud-hosted solutions and the technologies that make them viable.

That interest sharpened considerably following changes in privacy regulations, most notably the European Court of Justice's ruling from October 2015, which annulled the US/EU data-transfer framework commonly known as Safe Harbor. The ruling introduced new restrictions and the prospect of fines for organizations that handle cross-border data transfers carelessly.

Striking a balance between operational efficiency and data security has never been more consequential.

The Case for Cloud: Benefits Enterprises Don't Want to Give Up

Even with legitimate security concerns on the table, enterprises are understandably reluctant to walk away from the "as-a-service" model. The reasons are straightforward:

1. Reduced costs: SaaS applications eliminate most of the maintenance burden, freeing organizations from the overhead of a full-time internal IT function dedicated to keeping software running. Up-front investment for new software is reduced drastically, and subscription-based pricing makes it easier to budget and track ROI over time.

2. Scalability: Adding users, storage, and processing capacity are all achievable with minimal effort. The predictable cost structure of cloud computing also makes it easier to plan for growth and shifts in demand.

3. Faster time to benefit: With little to no installation on individual workstations and minimal configuration overhead, users can get up and running quickly. New features and updates can be rolled out in response to emerging needs, delivering greater business agility as resources and data are redirected toward specific objectives.

Growing Concerns Around Data Control

These advantages are increasingly running up against serious worries about data security — particularly when data crosses international borders or passes through third-party hands. The Safe Harbor ruling brought this tension into sharp relief.

Industries that handle sensitive data, such as healthcare and finance, are grappling with some persistent questions:

• How can an organization track every copy of its data stored in the cloud, especially when it needs to delete something definitively?
• When an enterprise decides to switch vendors, how will data stored and processed in the cloud be transferred — and is there any risk of leverage being held over the organization?
• Can data become mingled, lost, or otherwise compromised when stored alongside a vendor's other clients in a shared cloud environment?

The most logical answer to these concerns points toward an on-premises cloud model — one that offers control and efficiency without forcing a choice between them.

Private Cloud and the Technologies Making It Work

The concept of keeping sensitive data in-house via a private cloud isn't new. VMware has long offered pre-packaged solutions including appliances and on-demand storage, while OpenStack has built a substantial following as an open-source alternative.

The challenge is that combining the benefits of cloud-based applications with genuine data control is not straightforward. Most organizations lack the time or internal capability to build private cloud software from scratch, and pouring resources into in-house development is a significant distraction from core business activities.

At the same time, many enterprises need more than the out-of-the-box offerings that large vendors provide. Virtual appliances from providers like VMware become cumbersome when it comes to updates: individual components can't be upgraded in isolation — upgrading a single component means upgrading the entire virtual machine (VM). Turning to an outside vendor for a custom build is one option, but without remote access to the deployed system, rolling out updates and handling maintenance becomes its own headache, largely negating the cloud's advantages.

This is where container technology — and Docker in particular — enters the picture for enterprise deployments.

Container technology moves beyond basic virtualization by packaging one or more applications together with their binaries and libraries inside a lightweight container that doesn't require a dedicated VM for each application. Multiple containers run on a single operating system, enabling an efficient, multi-tenant environment where multiple applications operate concurrently without the overhead of full VM provisioning.

The implications for private cloud delivery are significant. Vendors can package and ship applications using Docker containers, making them portable across platforms, easily scalable, and straightforward to upgrade. Enterprises may still need a small internal IT presence for maintenance, but the resource requirement is minimal compared to traditional approaches.

Well-known companies including Yelp and Goldman Sachs have already moved in this direction. With the introduction of standardized container formats, building applications that deploy across a wide variety of cloud environments has become more accessible, giving organizations considerably more flexibility in how they architect their infrastructure.

For enterprises looking to maintain greater control over their data without sacrificing the agility and scalability that cloud computing delivers, the convergence of private cloud infrastructure and container technology represents a meaningful path forward.