Obstacles to Cloud Computing in China – Part II, Network Censorship

Any discussion of cloud computing obsticles in China would be incomplete without talk of firewalls and censorship – an almost cliché topic in the IT community here; but only a small concern to the executive who prepares in advance.

KEY POINT

The executive who prepares in advance for internet blocking will consistenly enjoy all of the benefits of cloud computing, worldwide.

NOT JUST CHINA

Although a primary concern for cloud users in China, I urge the CIO/CEO considering cloud computing to understand that their concerns go beyond the Chinese “Great Firewall” and include the organizational, state and national firewalls of other entities as well. Large corporations for example sometimes limit file sharing and web 2.0 sites within their corporate networks.

PREPARE

Resolving this is simple enough, and takes little time/budget

1. Equip your staff with 3G devices, and VPN software tools
2. TRAIN YOUR STAFF
   1. How to use the tools you’re giving them
   2. Which tools are best to use, and where
   3. How to configure and troubleshoot these tools for the best results

Trigger sells a VPN of our own that is also “in the cloud” and works very well for this sort of case for about $60/user/year.

In the past 3 years, two of our partners have been temporarily blocked, but with a clear contingency plan in place clients were able to continue with business as usual.

YOU NEVER KNOW WHEN OR WHERE

Never assume that users will be immune to this issue because the location they are travelling in has historically been open.

India for example has traditionally been very open to corporate IT and cloud computing but that could change.

They currently have censorship measures in place at multiple levels and the government plans to set up a centralized mechanism for the country to block websites as it pleases, and when.

THE 12 MOST RESTICTIVE

The list below are some of the most stringent censor nations of the internet, and if your business is operating in any way within these countries, you’ll need to be prepared.

1. Burma
2. China
3. Cuba
4. Egypt
5. Iran
6. North Korea
7. Saudi Arabia
8. Syria
9. Tunisia
10. Turkmenistan
11. Uzbekistan
12. Vietnam