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An interesting feature of community clouds is that
they can be managed in several diferent ways. For
instance:
• Every organization can appoint their own manager
to deal with their own resources.
• A third party may be appointed to oversee
management of the entire community cloud.
• All involved organizations can hold a meeting to
appoint a joint cloud manager.
• A head manager may be appointed who works in
conjunction with “branch”managers from every
organization participating in the community cloud.
Community clouds have mostly been resigned to
governmental organizations, but are quickly fnding
their way into the public sector. The biggest roadblock
for implementing the community cloud model in the
public sector (en masse) is lack of resources. Most
public organizations simply do not have the capital,
expertise, or access to the equipment needed to
efectively pull of a community cloud scenario. This
is slowly changing however, the technology behind
cloud computing is being disseminated by more and
more people every day after all.
Community Cloud Considerations
Establishing a community cloud warrants an
investigation into several areas; most notably:
• How will availability and/or potential security
breach issues be handled (from a legal
perspective)?
• How are operational / maintenance costs divided
among those participating in the community cloud
venture?
• How will the managing body distribute the cloud
resources? (Will they be prorated? For example)
• Will there be contracts involved? And if so, who will
draw up said contracts?
• Are there any special considerations to be made
concerning security?
• Will the community cloud be open geographically?
• How will the establishment of services be paid for?
• Who will be responsible for establishing a
management structure?
Setting up, running and operating a community cloud
is a bit like running a hospital or classroom; there are
inevitably going to be problems and mishaps, so you
must have a contingency plan in place to deal with
these issues.
One of the reasons that businesses have neglected
to implement or participate in community cloud
networks is due to a lack of established security
regulations / procedures. As it is, no organization
currently oversees or provides any type of
Since many diferent organizations may
share in the development and operation
of a community cloud, they also share in
the cost of establishing it.