In a recent e-mail interview with ZDNet Asia, Ronnie Ng, senior manager of systems engineering at Symantec Singapore, has noted that cost savings and increased productivity benefits can be achieved with print-anywhere services running through the public cloud network. However, security issues and business processes should be considered before adoption. According to Ng, the key concerns in this regard include malicious attacks by cybercriminals, loss of data, internal security policies governing the print service, and awareness and education among employees.
He further notes that traditional security tools occasionally do not work in cloud environments. This leads to the risks that corporate information stored on public clouds may get lost due to unmet service level agreements (SLAs) or cyberattacks. It is also important that employees understand the risks involved in using the service. Additionally, there is a need for companies to implement proper usage policies, he has stated, referring to a recent survey conducted by Symantec and the Ponemon Institute on cloud security. The survey polled 637 IT security practitioners working for companies that have adopted cloud computing platforms in the US.
Only 27 percent of respondents confirmed that their concerns had measures for approving cloud applications that used sensitive or confidential data.
The key benefit of cloud printing for enterprises is that it allows them to connect virtually any device to a printer with minimal hassle, says Ng. Enterprises would receive such services to boost productivity and advance business processes.
Ng's comments follow Google's recent announcement to launch its Google Cloud Print concept. The service is expected to help users print from any device or application using any cloud-aware printer. Google Cloud Print is still in its budding state, with Google publishing design documents for the concept and developing it to be compatible with its Chrome operating system.
Similarly, in May 2009, Hewlett-Packard had introduced the CloudPrint service as part of its collaboration with Research In Motion (RIM). While its print service is similar to Google's concept, the main difference is that print jobs are sent to a private cloud network.
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