http://lawiscool.com/2010/04/29/cloud-computing-tips-for-lawyers/?nucrss=1 The law school blog and podcast from Canada Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:00:08 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 http://lawiscool.com/2010/04/29/cloud-computing-tips-for-lawyers/comment-page-1/#comment-9368 Norm Chambers Thu, 05 Aug 2010 16:05:54 +0000 http://lawiscool.com/?p=2624#comment-9368 The new "Public Cloud" is usually a weak imitator of the "Private Clouds" that companies have been using for decades. Outsourcing your core legal apps or data to remote locations or vendors can have evastating effects: All the following are common, not rare, problems: Slowdowns due to long distance, small internet pipes, or slow servers in the remote NOC (network operations center) Security breaches by hackers because they tend to target large firms and collections of data, not smaller firms who host their own servers and apps. Downtime due to internet connections and routers, software changes w/ unexpected consequences, and not enough redundant equipment and experienced hardware technicians in the remote NOC. Legal jurisdictionissues and data ownership issues - they can usually keep the servers and data anywhere they want, and clients have no say in it. The laws in different states and nations can be freakishly different and comletely ridiculous and unfair. Data control issues - it's proven incredibly difficult to get your data back properly and timely when you leave the provider (or when they leave you by closing their doors). Weak QOS (Quality of Service) and SLA (Service Level Agreement) guarantees and warranties that are written from a vendor perspective and don't adequately protect the client. So there are serious considerations about internet pipe size and distance from their NOC, the remote NOCs server speeds, security risks, legal jurisdiction and data ownership, downtime, data control, and contract terms. Probably not a good solution for firms with more than 2 or 3 attorneys. The new “Public Cloud” is usually a weak imitator of the “Private Clouds” that companies have been using for decades. Outsourcing your core legal apps or data to remote locations or vendors can have evastating effects: All the following are common, not rare, problems:
Slowdowns due to long distance, small internet pipes, or slow servers in the remote NOC (network operations center)
Security breaches by hackers because they tend to target large firms and collections of data, not smaller firms who host their own servers and apps.
Downtime due to internet connections and routers, software changes w/ unexpected consequences, and not enough redundant equipment and experienced hardware technicians in the remote NOC.
Legal jurisdictionissues and data ownership issues – they can usually keep the servers and data anywhere they want, and clients have no say in it. The laws in different states and nations can be freakishly different and comletely ridiculous and unfair.
Data control issues – it’s proven incredibly difficult to get your data back properly and timely when you leave the provider (or when they leave you by closing their doors).
Weak QOS (Quality of Service) and SLA (Service Level Agreement) guarantees and warranties that are written from a vendor perspective and don’t adequately protect the client.
So there are serious considerations about internet pipe size and distance from their NOC, the remote NOCs server speeds, security risks, legal jurisdiction and data ownership, downtime, data control, and contract terms. Probably not a good solution for firms with more than 2 or 3 attorneys.

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