This is a problem which keeps springing to my mind, and is one of the main factors which for the time being will keep me from migrating any ‘mission-critical’ data into the cloud.

John C Dvorak, admittedly a cloud skeptic, just posted this on twitter:

Cloud Computing Report. Coming on 24-hours with zero Comcast Internet connection. It rained and blew up the “cloud.”

A few weeks back I was at the FoWA conference and it was plagued with WiFi issues. As understandable as these were considering the volume and number of users at an event like this, I couldn’t help noticing the irony of the lack of connectivity at a conference where there is a large emphasis on cloud computing. Lack of connection will always be the Achilles Heel of Cloud Computing. If I have an essay deadline and mine is stored cloud-wards I doubt my tutor would accept lack of internet as a valid excuse. Until we can make connection truly ubiquitous, with redundancy, so that in all but the most disastrous situations connection is available then I don’t see the cloud reaching its full potential. Again at FoWA we saw a presentation from a guy running an online invoicing and business finance service which looked fantastic, but I can’t see many small businesses migrating towards solutions like this until there is no risk of losing access to their information at inopportune moments.

Tangentially related to this is the problem of mobile data and of roaming rates. This is again something which needs to be addressed as we move ever forward towards the cloud and mobile devices becoming our first line in technology and data access. I was paying around £1 per MB while in Galway for the Oyster Festival. I have this amazing device in my pocket which could answer all the questions I have about this place I am visiting but I can’t access any of that without feeling like I am being mugged.