The 28-hour outage of Adobe Creative Cloud last week should catch the attention of everyone who depends on cloud-based applications to get their work done. The outage makes me wonder whether we need outside certification that cloud apps are properly designed and managed, a sort of Underwriters Laboratories seal for the cloud.

The Daily Beast guesstimates that the Adobe outage took a million creative professionals out of service for part of Wednesday and Thursday. Adobe has been moving away from desktop software for several years, replacing it with software located in the cloud or requiring a cloud connection to function.

Adobe reportedly lost login services during a database upgrade. As a result, some customers of its subscription-based Creative Suite were unable useq1 their software during the outage.

The obvious conclusion is that actually loading “subscription software” onto the users’ machines, as Microsoft does with Office 365, makes a lot of sense. Though sold as a subscription, Office users download a full suite of Microsoft applications, which must only see the Internet periodically to confirm subscription status.

Adobe, however, is not Microsoft and is renowned for its copy protection and high prices. Creative professionals depend on Adobe apps for their livelihoods, and the company never lets them forget it. Thus, when users can’t access their Adobe apps, for whatever reason, their lives shift into unproductive mode. While it was Adobe’s failure this time, a wide-scale Internet outage could have the same impact on users.

Guaranteeing the cloud

 .

I am aware of various standards for data centers related to information protection. There are also fire codes, building codes and other standards that should help make sure data centers remain functioning.

What I am not aware of is a means to certify cloud services that users might depend upon when comparing cloud providers. Right now, this is something users pretty much have to accept on faith. Enterprise customers may investigate further, but who actually audits cloud facilities, standards, operator training, procedures and other aspects of providing “always” access to customers?

If some organization does this and makes the results public, I am not aware of it. I think the cloud needs an organization capable of certifying could providers for overall safety, which I define as being available at all times and protecting customers data from loss. SaaS providers might face added standards and testing, as might cloud-based app hosting.

Such an organization might also serve as a best practices and security clearinghouse, maybe even staging white hat attacks against its clients.

I think of this as being a safety organization, a sort of Underwriters Laboratories for the cloud. UL’s standards, which go far beyond the electrical products most people are familiar with, continue to save many lives. While most cloud apps aren’t live-or-death, some will be and having a wise third-party to vouch for them only makes sense.

Other aspects of this organization might be similar to the Good Housekeeping Seal, minus the warranty, probably, or Consumer Reports, though my cloud organization would allow its seal to be used in advertising, which the consumer magazine prohibits.

As cloud services become ever more ubiquitous, customers need some way to know — beyond mere faith in a brand — that the cloud is safe and effective for its intended use. A third party could go a long way in assuring customers that the cloud that one day seems to give them everything, won’t take it away the next.

photo credit: SeattleClouds.com via photopin cc