As software-defined data centers emerge in the IT industry, CIOs have a number of critical decisions and considerations on their plate. For companies considering whether or not to use cloud computing, traditional data centers, or a combination of the two for data storage, three primary factors commonly play into their decision: business needs, overall system costs, and data security.

Since the cloud is an external form of storage, CIOs typically view it as a less appealing host location than a traditional data center. Entrusting data with a third-party provider that has many different locations can be a daunting thought. We’ve put together a video gallery from around the web to shed some light on cloud security’s current role, as well as what it may mean in the future, within the data center realm.

George Slessman – VMworld 2013 – theCUBE

George Slessman, the CEO and Product Architect of IO, speak at VMworld 2013, discussing how companies can bring software-enabled optimization flexibility into physical data center assets. A number of points were discussed, including the role of security in this process.

Siemen’s John Kovach Talks about the Data Centers, “The Cloud” and Security!

John Kovach, the head of data centers for Siemens, heads a discussion centering around cloud security’s role within in data centers and how they work together in times of natural disasters and crisis situations to keep information flowing.

Moving to a More Secure IT: Datacenter, Cloud, Client

Security is an area of great concern for individuals looking to leverage the power of the cloud. But it is also an area of great confusion, with myths competing with realities. This discussion highlights some existing solutions and emerging solutions that will extend protection and capabilities.

Cloud Enabling Your Data Center: Security and the Cloud

Joe Anthony (IBM Director, Security, Risk & Compliance Product Management) discusses security in the Cloud and the IBM Security Framework.

Securing the Data Center for Cloud

The data center is a key component of cloud services. Ensuring an attack free zone for your services starts in the data center and spans the physical and virtual domains. This video offers some in depth information regarding cloud security’s role within data centers.

Cloud 2.0: The Software-Defined Data Center and the Future of Cloud Computing — A Panel Discussion

View this video of executives from leading end user, venture technology and advisory firms as they debate how software-defined data center convergence will move the state of cloud computing forward.

Security in the Data Center

Transformation of the data center to a virtualized and cloud environment is inevitable in today’s world. In this clip from episode 120, TechWiseTV Host Jaishree Subramania welcomes guest Scott Gainey (Cisco) to find the answers and discuss cloud security.

Trends in Data Protection: SOS Security and SafeNet

SOS Security (a Forsythe Company) sees its clients moving to the next-generation datacenter, but they still have questions. What is a next-gen datacenter? What changes as they take steps toward a hybrid data center? When I move to a virtualized environment, is my data still safe? This video addresses some of these concerns.

Final Thoughts

Cloud security will likely be a hot-point in the IT decision-making process for quite some time, especially as software-defined data centers take center stage. We hope these videos provided some valuable insights into the current relationship between cloud security and today’s data center landscape.