Analysis: Ten clauses to watch in cloud contracts

By Brett Winterford on Apr 5, 2011 11:18 PM
Filed under Strategy

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See video highlights of the Cloud Cover event An analysis of some 25 standard cloud computing contracts dissected at an event in Sydney today has revealed a veritable minefield of legal risks Australia’s corporate sector can be exposed to when adopting public cloud computing services. Truma...

6 comments in this discussion

"KimmiC wrote: It came as no surprise that the launch of Mark Vincent's paper was both interesting and insightful. Also of great interest was the 'special guest' to the expert panel, Raghu ..."

By Taren

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cloud computing, cloudcover, truman hoyle, mark vincent, transition out, place of law, amazoncom, salesforcecom, ibm, telstra, google apps

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Comments: 6

KimmiC Apr 6, 2011 10:11 AM	It came as no surprise that the launch of Mark Vincent's paper was both interesting and insightful. Also of great interest was the 'special guest' to the expert panel, Raghu Raghuram (VMware Senior VP for Virtualization and Cloud Platforms), who had some interesting opinions regarding hybrid clouds and negotiated reputation risk. Congratulations to Brett and the whole iTnews team for bringing all the participants together.
Ace Apr 6, 2011 2:22 PM	It was indeed informative and well attended. The upshot seemed to be 'make sure you read and understand your terms and conditions'. There are certainly some unexpected suprises in some cases. Nice job ITNews on your first event.
walteradamson Apr 7, 2011 1:08 PM	Mildly interesting in parts and mostly a beat-up by lawyers. I'm not sure what the possible outcome of all this could be? If you are choosing between competing services of equal functional benefit to you, and then the contract plays a role in your final choice, then yes comparative analysis is of value. But(1) mostly you prefer a particular service for functional or cost reasons, be that Amazon or Salesforce or Telstra, and (2) 99% of AU companies have zero negotiating power anyway with Amazon.com, Google Apps, IBM, Microsoft Azure, Rackspace, Salesforce.com, Telstra etc. Result - don't waste a moment on trying to negotiate changes, suck it up and put all your investment into developing an appropriate risk management plan. You'll buy the framework of one of these from practitioners who have done it all before. You don't need to invent it. Apply it to your business scenario, it's not rocket science. This kind of report is typified by the opening - "veritable minefield of legal risks" - which brands it as just another cloud beatup. Walter @adamson http://xeesm.com/walter
BrettWinterford Apr 7, 2011 1:42 PM	@walteradamson - So, just give up, right? That's the advice you'd give customers? The fact that public cloud vendors are starting to compete on terms (see Google's announcement around scrapping scheduled downtime exclusions, or the deal they negotiated with LA City Council) would suggest that it is well worth arguing these points.
mike111ryan Apr 14, 2011 9:36 AM	Kudos to you and the editorial team for this excellent overview. Australian business and government clients are grappling with these issues. This excellent piece succinctly sums up real challenges IT Administrators and Company Directors must weigh up in formulating a cloud strategy. Compliance and jurisdiction are particularly unpleasant pain points and you have shared some valuable insights that are sure to help in the strategy phase of policy development. Mike Ryan - Brass Razoo Group
Taren May 26, 2011 12:55 PM	KimmiC wrote: It came as no surprise that the launch of Mark Vincent's paper was both interesting and insightful. Also of great interest was the 'special guest' to the expert panel, Raghu Raghuram (VMware Senior VP for Virtualization and Cloud Platforms), who had some interesting opinions regarding hybrid clouds and negotiated reputation risk. Congratulations to Brett and the whole iTnews team for bringing all the participants together. I'm not sure what the possible outcome of all this could be? If you are choosing between competing services of equal functional benefit to you, and then the contract plays a role in your final choice, then yes comparative analysis is of value. ipad 2 accessories ipad 2 Sleeves ipad 2 Screen Protectors