GEOGRAPHIC GOVERNANCE OF DATA OVER CLOUDS

• US 20120078643A1
• Filed: 09/23/2010
• Published: 03/29/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/23/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: NAGPAL, Abhinay R., PATIL, Sandeep R., RAMANATHAN, Sri, TREVATHAN, Matthew B.
• Granted Patent: US 8,676,593 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/1.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

Methods and systems for controlling a geographic region of data in cloud computing are described. A method implemented in a computer infrastructure including a combination of hardware and software includes: receiving a request from a local computing device to save data on a network including a plurality of data storage locations in a plurality of different geographic regions; determining a specified geographic region of the plurality of different geographic regions by analyzing at least one of: (i) file attributes associated with the data, and (ii) predefined rules; identifying one of the plurality of data storage locations within the specified geographic region based on the determining step; and routing the data to the identified one of the plurality of data storage locations within the specified geographic region.

Claims

1. A method implemented in a computer infrastructure comprising a combination of hardware and software, the method comprising:

receiving a request from a local computing device to save data on a network comprising a plurality of data storage locations in a plurality of different geographic regions;

determining a specified geographic region of the plurality of different geographic regions by analyzing at least one of;

(i) file attributes associated with the data, and (ii) predefined rules;

identifying one of the plurality of data storage locations within the specified geographic region based on the determining step; and

routing the data to the identified one of the plurality of data storage locations within the specified geographic region.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the local computing device is using a service provider'"'"'s application running on network infrastructure remote from the local computing device; and

the data is associated with the application.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the local computing device is accessing the service provider'"'"'s application via a web browser.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the local computing device is running an application or an operating system on a service provider'"'"'s hardware remote from the local computing device; and

the data is associated with the application or the operating system.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the determining the specified geographic region comprises analyzing the file attributes associated with the data; and

the file attributes were created in response to a selection of a user at the local computing device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifying comprises comparing the specified geographic region to a mapping database that associates geographic regions with the plurality of data storage locations.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the determining the specified geographic region comprises analyzing the predefined rules; and

the predefined rules are based on at least one of;

file content, semantic data, user identity, group association, and local computing device location.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising presenting a plurality of selectable geographic regions to the local computing device.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising determining the plurality of selectable geographic regions based on the predefined rules, wherein at least one of the plurality of different geographic regions is omitted from the plurality of selectable geographic regions based on the predefined rules.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein a service provider at least one of creates, maintains, deploys and supports the computer infrastructure.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein steps of claim 1 are provided by the service provider on a subscription, advertising, and/or fee basis.

12. A computer system for saving data on a network, the system comprising:

a CPU, a computer readable memory and a computer readable storage media;

first program instructions to present a plurality of geographic regions to a local computing device, wherein the plurality of geographic regions are associated with a plurality of data storage locations in a network, and the local computing device is accessing the network;

second program instructions to receive a specification of at least one of the plurality of geographic regions from the local computing device; and

third program instructions to cause data associated with the local computing device to be physically stored at a device located within the specified at least one of the plurality of geographic regions,

wherein the first, second and third program instructions are stored on the computer readable storage media for execution by the CPU via the computer readable memory.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein:

the network comprises a cloud computing infrastructure;

the local computing device is using a service provider'"'"'s application running on the cloud computing infrastructure at a location remote from the local computing device; and

the data is associated with the application.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein:

the network comprises computing resources of at least one service provider; and

the computing resources are pooled to serve multiple consumers using a multi-tenant model, with different physical and virtual resources dynamically assigned and reassigned according to demand.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein:

the network comprises a cloud computing infrastructure;

the local computing device is running an application or an operating system on a service provider'"'"'s hardware in the cloud computing infrastructure and remote from the local computing device; and

the data is associated with the application or the operating system.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein an intelligent routing system interfaced between the local computing device and the network performs the presenting, the receiving, and the causing the data to be physically stored.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the specification of at least one of the plurality of geographic regions comprises a file attribute.

18. The system of claim 17, further comprising creating the file attribute based on a selection of a user.

19. The system of claim 17, further comprising comparing the file attribute to a mapping database for determining a network identity of a storage location corresponding to the specified at least one of the plurality of geographic regions.

20. The system of claim 12, wherein the presenting the plurality of geographic regions is based on at least one predefined rule.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the at least one predefined rule is based on at least one of:

file content, semantic data, user identity, group association, and local computing device location.

22. A computer program product comprising a computer usable storage medium having readable program code embodied in the storage medium, the computer program product includes at least one component operable to:

receive a request to save data on a network, wherein the network comprises a plurality of data storage locations in a plurality of different geographic regions;

determine a specified geographic region by analyzing at least one of;

(i) file attributes associated with the data, and (ii) predefined rules;

identify one of the plurality of data storage locations within the specified geographic region; and

cause the data to be saved at the identified one of the plurality of data storage locations within the specified geographic region by routing the data to the identified one of the plurality of data storage locations within the specified geographic region.

23. A system, comprising:

an intelligent routing system interfaced between a local computing device and a network, wherein the network comprises a plurality of data storage locations in a plurality of different geographic regions, and wherein the intelligent routing system is configured to;

receive a request from the local computing device to save data on the network;

determine a specified geographic region by analyzing at least one of;

(i) file attributes associated with the data, and (ii) predefined rules;

identify one of the plurality of data storage locations within the specified geographic region; and

cause the data to be saved at the identified one of the plurality of data storage locations within the specified geographic region by routing the data to the identified one of the plurality of data storage locations within the specified geographic region.