EMC World 2012: EMC talks up cloud, security and big data

Storage giant EMC used the first day of its worldwide customer and partner summit to outline its thoughts on cloud, big data and security.

During the opening partner day keynote at EMC World in Las Vegas, Jeremy Burton, the firm's chief marketing officer, predicted that one day every organisation will have its own private cloud.

You can't really get into a conversation about cloud without getting into a conversation about security.

"We think there will be 100,000 of private clouds environments. Every organisation will turn their infrastructure into one of these private cloud environments because it's more efficient. There will also be thousands of public clouds," he said.

Despite describing conversations about which type of cloud will end up being the most popular as a "pointless debate", Burton said EMC's view is that most end users will probably end up using hybrid environments.

"We think that will end up being the most pervasive model for computing," he said. "You will see application workloads [operating in] private clouds one day, public the next...and then move back."

However, for that to become a reality, the issue of securing the cloud needs to be addressed.

"You can't really get into a conversation about cloud without getting into a conversation about security," said Burton. "And, without trust in the cloud, it's my belief, that there is no cloud."

The dynamic nature of threats makes it difficult to assure end users about the security of their data in the cloud, he admitted.

"Attacks are now human-based to the point where [we are seeing] phishing attacks on acquiring companies from intruders posing as the HR department of the acquiring company," he said.

"There are an infinite set of malicious threats out there now. It's a very different and dynamic environment."