[kictanet] Kenya IGF 2011 List Discussions Day 4 Cloud Computing

[Paul M]

Regarding cloud computing, its great to see efforts by the GOK to try and
exploit the potential of the cloud in data storage, sharing of computing
resources, not the least carrying out virtualization with the purpose of
cutting costs and scaling computing resources to cater for the needs of a
maximum number of end users. Nonetheless, the cloud in my humble opinion has
been misconstrued to mean many things to many people. Although the concept
its not new (The concept of the Internet Cloud was conceived in the 60's),
its just in the last five years that cloud computing has gained traction
amongst businesses and end users.

Even in the geek culture there is quite a lot of  disagreement on the
definitions, models, implementations and categories of cloud computing.
These arguments still continue...
The concepts Infrastructure As A Service (IAAS), Platform As A Service
(PAAS), Software As A Service (SAAS) are in my humble opinion a MOU
(memorandum of understanding) of describing the abstractions of a cloud.
For some people (mainly geeks), these categories are not exhaustive and as
newer applications and cloud models come up in the future, these categories
are bound to change.

With respect to Kenya, increased Internet growth will mean demand for
content/data and conversely this lead to establishment of more data centres.
Yet as Barrack pointed out, these data centers are fragmented and do not
share their cloud computing infrastructure with anyone else. This is not
entirely their fault, as universal cloud computing standards and APIs
(Application Programming Interfaces) still have to be developed (This is an
issue that will be discussed here in Nairobi during the IGF).  This is just
a thought, do you think we should have a national cloud similar to the
national power grid (despite its glaring inefficiencies) for which disparate
data centres can share cloud computing infrastructure?

Besides the issue of sharing infrastructure, there are several overarching
issues that also need to be addressed with respect to cloud computing namely
privacy (user and data), security and stability of a given cloud or cloud
provider. This is where I ask the honorable PS, how do you intend to address
these issues? Are they going to be included in any future legislation
regarding cyber space? Please shed some light.
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