I'm in the process of getting the Boston chapter of the Cloud Security Alliance started. I'm just waiting for the "paperwork" to go through, but I'm really excited about what I'm hearing from customers about the cloud. Coming from Oracle, you get a bit of the "Larry Hates the Cloud" mindset, but in my limited time here at Vordel, I can see the deep interest from customers.

Mark O'Neill has published a few articles recently on a few topics within cloud security (SSO to Google Mail and Security Checklist for Cloud Security) but there is single "Cloud Security" solution. Probably the only term less well defined than "Cloud" is "Security". CSA is starting a whole new focus are on "Security as a Service" - again we could have/and will continue to have a debate over what is a "Service".

Unlike SOA, IT people are being asked by the business "What are we doing about the cloud?". This is because the "cloud" model continues to drive real cost savings. So, given the state of security in the cloud....what should you do?

From my perspective, the technical alignment between the traditional XML Gateway use cases and the Cloud Service Broker use cases suggests that though the space and the standards are evolving, an investment in an XML Gateway will provide significant value moving up into the cloud. What do you think?

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