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DisappearingThe
Data Center?
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or some insurance CIOs,
the hour may be soon approaching to reconsider a
supposition that has gone
relatively unchallenged
for half a century—that
robust use of computers
to augment business
operations requires a corresponding investment in
physical hardware and
on-premise software.
The new theoretical framework challenging the data center orthodoxy is
known, somewhat unhappily, as cloud
computing. Whether cloud computing
ever becomes a viable alternative to the
data center model is subject to debate;
what isn’t debatable is that the
nebulousness surrounding the term
“cloud computing” remains a source of
confusion to many. To clarify, cloud
computing is a rubric for three related
concepts: infrastructure-as-a-service
(IaaS), platform-as-a-service (PaaS) and
software-as-a-service (SaaS). Furthering
the complexity, companies can opt for
public, private or hybrid clouds. Where
on this spectrum a company making a
push into cloud computing falls may
well depend on the peculiarities of a
company’s business, its risk appetite and
its leadership’s IT vision.
While nobody is suggesting the
insurance industry is set to abandon
the untold millions it has invested in
infrastructure over the decades in a
lemming-like rush to embrace cloud
computing, the prospect of insurers
handing off the operational aspects of
many of the functions currently
performed within their own data cen-
ters or on their desktops is becoming
an option.
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The baby steps taken toward the cloud
camp were evident in research conducted by New York-based Novarica in
October 2010. The survey queried 75
members of its Insurance Technology
Research Council and found an increasing number are spending more than
10% of their budget on SaaS and cloud
