publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/518940
ILTA WHITE PAPER: MAY 2015 WWW.ILTANET.ORG 43 CHALLENGES AND TIPS FOR E-DISCOVERY IN THE CLOUD difficulties for e-discovery during litigation. Spread out over multiple platforms and stored in no standardized fashion, pertinent information can spread through a huge volume of data. However, despite these and other challenges, e-discovery in the cloud can offer significant cost-saving benefits for law firms and their clients. Some initial challenges presented by new technical terrain and old legal requirements for preserving data are now being met by new litigation support tools. VARIANTS OF "THE CLOUD" The term "cloud computing" refers to a series of technologies. The most common variants are: • Public Cloud: The services and infrastructure are provided over the Internet. This is inexpensive and easy to implement, but the systems are not under the control of the firm's IT department, which can present security concerns for some organizations. • Private Cloud: The services and infrastructure are provided and maintained on a private network in a private cloud. Maintenance of a private cloud requires IT staff, software and hardware. • Hybrid Cloud: This is an environment where there is a mixture of both public and private services. How cloud services are delivered is ever-evolving. The terminology revolves around what sort of service is being provided and is denoted with the acronym XaaS, where the "X" is the what. The most common cloud services are: • Software as a Service (SaaS): SaaS refers to software applications that can be accessed and used over the Internet. Some are free and others are licensed. Examples include Salesforce, Google Drive and Gmail. • Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): The most basic cloud offering, IaaS is the provision of computing resources (physical or virtual), storage devices and networking services. The client is still responsible for maintaining applications and operating system software. Examples include providers such as Amazon Web Services, Equinix and Rackspace. • Platform as a Service: PaaS lies somewhere in between the other two. Cloud service providers deliver a platform most commonly used for application development. The service usually includes the operating system, programming environment, databases and Web tools. Examples include Microsoft Azure and Google App Engine. Over 90 percent of large companies have adopted the cloud in some capacity, and small and medium-size firms are rapidly adopting the technology as well. One study from Intuit and Emergent Research estimated that small business use of cloud computing will more than double by 2020, from 37 percent to nearly 80 percent. For Firms Big and Small 2014 2020 37% 80%