Universal Insurance Of North America

3 Steps to Securing the Cloud's Future

Projections for the cloud are as numerous as the stars and as uncertain as the fog that hides them. So instead of projecting, let's fast forward 10 years and then take a look back at what happened …

The year is 2021 and the global financial services industry is controlled by five major network providers. India's proprietary network has spread across Asia, enabling services to 3 billion underbanked people. Two vendors remain in North America, both kept in place by the U.S. Congress, which holds rate approval authority. The European Union has grown to 50 nations and consolidated around one provider, while Latin America has coalesced network services through a single cooperative. Elsewhere, a plethora of renegades and upstarts piggyback on borrowed, excess or pirated spectrum, each seeking to bypass the tollgates that have become the 21st century version of Visa fees.

Of the year's 10 richest people, eight are purported to run fraud networks. As gasoline approaches $15 a gallon, physical financial outlets are decaying faster than the neighborhoods around them. Futurists argue one of two directions for the industry: One camp projects the complete abolition of physical outlets within 10 years, citing the ubiquitous access to rich, unified services through the newly launched Dick Tracy wristwatch device. The other camp prophesies a backlash and the return to face-to-face transactions, handshakes, and documents signed with pen and ink, especially since insurance premiums for identity theft are now unaffordable by most people and DNA authentication is available simply by scratching a rubber pad next to the teller window. Skeptics remind both sides that every device known to humankind has been hacked and that the DNA sequences of 4 billion people have recently been posted on WikiLeaks.

... This scenario may seem farfetched, but it points to several issues regarding cloud computing that should be addressed within the industry:

1. Resolve Physical Network Issues

First, the delivery of cloud services is dependent on physical networks. The role of network owners will become a major factor in the cost and ultimate disposition of virtual services. A natural oligopoly arises in the logistics of information delivery across a finite, physical space, regardless of whether the network is cabled or part of the wireless spectrum.

What to do?

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MetLife hedge is reverse mortgages

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Handbook on Insurance Coverage Disputes

A digest of the decisions of the federal courts, from the organization of the government to the present time [1789-1870].

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