If you’d told me in early 2009 that cloud computing services would be one of the hottest topics in communications and IT by the end of the year, I’m not sure I would have believed you entirely.

But by the end of 2009, cloud computing is everywhere. Small and midsized businesses are talking seriously to cloud providers like Amazon, Google, IBM, AT&T, BT and many others. Even larger enterprises are looking at this model to cut costs on data center processing, storage and software applications.

While the essential cloud computing services model has been with us for a while, under the moniker of Application Service Provider (ASP), the current iterations of the technology and concept are catching on like wildfire, especially in an uncertain economy in which enterprises of all sizes are doing everything they can to cut costs out of their businesses.

While "cloud computing has huge potential to be a game changer for businesses around the world, the industry needs to work through a number of major issues before cloud computing services can live up to the huge amount of hype they’ve enjoyed this year. TM Forum is jumping into the fray with our own initiative.

Security standards a must for cloud computing services

Establishing security standards for cloud computing services must be first and foremost if enterprises are essentially going to hand over their corporate data to an outsourced storage provider, or rely on another party’s server processing or software. If enterprises are putting their data on a server they don’t physically control, it turns the whole security paradigm on its head. If that doesn’t raise red flags, I don’t know what will.

more of the SearchTelecom article from Jim Warner