Computing Technology Assignment

Selecting a Cloud Vendor for Storage

MarkWorth University, located in Manassas, VA, is seeking to move all of its storage capabilities to the cloud, either one vendor or multiple vendors. This will involve sensitive business data, health data, as well as student data, all of which must meet regulatory privacy requirements.

The general requirements are as follows:

1. 100 TB of data on initiation, created and retrieved using a number of applications, primarily Peoplesoft, Blackboard, Google products, and Kentico CMS. MarkWorh will handle the licensing for these products

2. 30 day transition period.

3. About 400 staff and faculty who access the applications both during office hours and less frequently from remote locations, including overseas. The average user is on the computer about 4 hours a day.

4. About 6,000 students who need access to the system 24 by 7, including use of credit cards to pay their student accounts.

5. Growth is about 1TB of data per year.

6. 24 by 7 support is required and 98% uptime is required.

7. Vendor must have past experience with academic institutions.

8. Security and privacy are very important.

9. Compliance with all laws and regulations (HIPAA, FERPA, etc.)

10. Vendor must have been in business for at least 2 years and have a positive reputation.

11. Vendor must have some kind of third-party audit results on the performance of their services.

Read and understand the scenario above and research a list of five vendors that you believe can meet most, if not all, these requirements. Write a memo to me detailing: the name of the vendor, the web site, name of service(s), and your rationale for choosing this vendor. Discuss the evaluation criteria you would use to differentiate between the vendors in the next stage of the project.