What Is Cloud Computing?
If you like the idea of having someone else host your software, infrastructure and other services for you, then cloud computing is worth your consideration. The term is used to describe anything that involves hosted services delivered over the Internet, encompassing three primary categories: Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). Unlike traditional hosting, cloud computing services are sold on demand, often by the minute or by the hour—or by subscription. All you need are a computer and Internet access to take advantage of the managed services, as the service provider will host and manage the account entirely off-site.
Recent technological advances in cloud computing, along with an increased interest in cutting costs, have led many businesses and individuals to pursue cloud computing as a smart way to gain access to a variety of IT services that would otherwise be unaffordable. Below, we’ve outlined the three primary categories of cloud computing and how they can help you.
Infrastructure-as-a-Service
With IaaS, such as the services offered by Amazon Web Services, you’re able to start, stop, access and configure your virtual servers and storage using the provider’s application program interface (API). Because IaaS provides virtual server instances with unique IP addresses and blocks of storage on demand, you’re able to pay only for the capacity that you need. As such, the service is sometimes called utility computing, in that you pay for what you use in the way that you consume electricity, fuel and water.
Platform-as-a-service
The PaaS category of cloud computing refers to a set of software and product development tools hosted on the provider’s infrastructure. Using an API, a website portal or gateway software installed on your computer, you’re able to create a variety of applications on the provider’s platform over the Internet. Force.com and GoogleApps are just a couple of the providers offering PaaS.
Software-as-a-Service
With SaaS, you have access to a broad variety of services, ranging from Web-based email to inventory control and database processing. SaaS providers supply the hardware infrastructure and the software product and interact with the user through a front-end portal. This structure allows users to access the services from anywhere since the provider hosts both the application and the data.
It’s clear that cloud computing offers a new level of flexibility in creating and managing essential business and personal services. It allows even the non-tech-savvy to take advantage of a variety of hosted services, often for free or at a fraction of the cost of managing the services on your own.
Why Use Cloud Computing?
The term “cloud computing” has filtered into the mainstream, yet many businesses and individuals don’t quite know why it can be a valuable tool for executing essential daily functions. The term, used to describe anything that involves hosted services delivered over the Internet, can be particularly useful for small businesses that need to cut costs while still delivering the same high-quality products and services to their customers. Essentially, cloud computing lets you use a service provider’s platform for storage space, bandwidth, application development, software access and more—without the headache of managing or hosting these tools and services on your own. Consider the following ways that cloud computing can help your organization:
1. Business continuity. When you have an outside service provider handling your IT infrastructure, you can ramp up systems to accommodate for seasonal or daily swings in server usage, and scale them down when business dies down. You’ll also have safeguards in place in the event of disaster at your facility, because your data will be hosted elsewhere.
2. Flexible pricing. Most cloud computing providers let you pay as you go rather than sign a long-term contract that locks you into the service for an extended period. This approach makes cloud more affordable for firms that may be still struggling in the current economic climate.
3. Ease of use. Using cloud computing is like running a marathon without getting off the sofa. You need only a computer and Internet access to get started with cloud computing, yet you’re able to develop and execute sophisticated applications and access volumes of storage space and bandwidth. What could be better?
4. Automation. Software systems and servers always stay up-to-date on a cloud computing platform, so your IT personnel needn’t worry about manually deploying important updates and patches.
5. Mobility. Whether you have workers in-house or telecommuters, cloud computing lets your employees access their work desk from anywhere—often leading to greater employee satisfaction and quality of work.
The question of whether to use cloud computing often comes down to whether the decision makers understand that it’s not simply a passing fad, but rather an essential business tool for any IT department, particularly small ones with limited resources and personnel. The upshot of a streamlined IT infrastructure is that the rest of your company will operate more smoothly, too—freeing up company leaders to focus on innovation and increasing the bottom line.
Who Uses Cloud Computing?
If you’re put off by the idea of buying, installing and managing your servers and software systems yourself, then cloud computing may be for you. Nowadays, it’s as easy as turning to a managed services provider—and paying only for the time and space you use on their systems. You’re freed of the expense and headache that’s often associated with managing your own IT infrastructure, and left with more time to focus on growing your bottom line.
There are a variety of users taking advantage of cloud computing capabilities, but who stands to benefit the most? The following come to mind:
Tech startups -
You’ll considerably reduce your startup costs with cloud computing if you’re a tech startup. Considering the large investment of capital that’s associated with new hardware and software purchases, cloud computing is far easier on your pocketbook. It also offers the flexibility to use what you need, when you need it—and nothing more. For instance, you can employ 10 servers at the peak of your website traffic and scale back to one or two when it dies down in the wee hours of the morning. You’ll ultimately be able to save your money for other areas of your business, such as marketing, promotion and innovation, and leave the heavy lifting to a hosted service provider.
Seasonal businesses -
If there are certain times of year when your business is busier than others, such as at the holidays or during tax season, you can scale up your operations to accommodate the temporary need for additional server space or certain types of hardware or software.
Any business that can’t do it all on its own -
From catering companies to fitness centers, cloud computing makes it easy to manage large volumes of customer data. You don’t need a tech degree to get it done, either; managed service providers do the work for you and offer customer support to address any concerns.
Individuals -
Freelancers, students and anyone doing work on the go can benefit from the basic cloud computing applications built into many email service providers, such as Google Docs. Work on a document at home, save it online and work on it from an Internet café or at school. Cloud computing stores the document for you and makes it accessible 24/7.
With all of the uses for cloud computing, it’s easy to find a way to leverage its capabilities for business or personal use—and put cloud computing to work for you.
What Is a Private Cloud?
Cloud computing provides a way to get software and hardware services on demand, requiring only a computer and Internet access to take advantage of the managed services offered through various service providers who host and manage the account entirely off-site. Some IT departments are taking on the responsibility themselves, creating what’s known as a private cloud, aka internal or corporate cloud—and offering hosted services to a limited number of internal clients behind a firewall.
Private clouds are designed to appeal to companies that want more control over their data than what may be offered through large hosted services providers. Yet the issue remains for these IT departments that they must take on the responsibility of buying, building and managing their own infrastructure—whereas cloud computing does all the work for you. Private clouds require the upfront capital investment in hardware and software, along with an investment of resources, with no scalability or flexibility to ramp operations up or down depending on the company’s needs.
Companies might turn to private clouds if they’re concerned about privacy and data security, corporate governance and reliability. Service outages like the one that Amazon’s S3 once experienced can be detrimental for a business. Yet there are no guarantees that a private cloud won’t have an outage or a security breach. And proponents of public cloud systems maintain that private clouds ultimately are costlier than public ones. A November 2010 Microsoft report, “The Economics of the Cloud,” claims that large commercial cloud providers bring a deeper level of expertise to cloud computing than a typical IT department. Therefore, they argue, public cloud systems are potentially more secure and reliable than private clouds.
Furthermore, the report states, some 80 percent of the typical IT budget is spent on “keeping the lights on”—that is, maintaining existing services and infrastructure. For small departments with few resources, that scenario leaves little room for innovation when the IT employees are perpetually managing new business and user requests. In contrast, public cloud services allow IT leaders to offer new solutions, such as app development, that may have previously been too cost-prohibitive or resource-intensive to implement.
The private cloud model has yet to be fully vetted in terms of its reliability and usefulness for organizations, but there’s enough circumstantial evidence to suggest that it’s not a model to implement at whim. As with any business initiative, do your due diligence, and weigh the potential costs against the apparent benefits of public clouds before making a final decision.
Cloud Computing Video
Darian Davis - CoSentry's Cloud Services
In this video, I'd like to share with you why CoSentry's Cloud Services will be a fit for you and your environment. Many times, our customers are looking at virtualizing their existing infrastructure and may not understand how to do that.
CoSentry can bring in our expertise as well as our existing infrastructure, so you can leverage that without having to worry about any sort of operational expense. As opposed to refreshing your hardware, just utilize what we already have in place and we can then build an infrastructure around you. Perhaps that's a development environment that requires a lower SLA, all the way up to a production environment that requires 100% up-time.
CoSentry services, our engineers and our infrastructure can provide all of that to you, and more.