| What's behind the Cloud?
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Andrew Walker
Technical Services Director
With so much hype surrounding Cloud Computing and confusion as to what it actually is, Andrew explains what’s behind the Cloud.
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What is Cloud Computing?
Cloud Computing describes the use of applications and services on-line.
You can use web-based applications without having them stored on your PC or server and your information, files etc are saved or hosted by a service provider.
The aim of Cloud Computing is to provide easy, scalable access to computing resources and IT services on-line – instead of building your own IT infrastructure, in effect you rent the storage, computing power and applications from the provider.
Cloud Computing services are sold on demand and users can often have as much or as little of a service as they need at any time.
The key difference is that the service is fully managed by the provider so a user needs nothing but a PC or mobile device and Internet access to use applications within the Cloud.
Cloud Computing isn’t in anyway experimental or new – if you’ve used an application like Facebook or Hotmail, you’re already a consumer of Cloud Computing.
How is the Cloud structured?
A Cloud can be private or public. A public Cloud offers services to anyone on the Internet. A private Cloud is a hosted service offered by a company to their employees or by a provider to a particular group of users.
Types of Cloud Computing
There are three main types of hosted service: Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Software-as-a-Service (Saas):
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Infrastructure-as-a-Service provides access to a virtual server with unique IP addresses and blocks off storage on demand enabling companies to pay for capacity as it is needed. Often known as utility computing, companies pay for what they use.
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Platform-as-a-Service is a set of software development tools hosted on the provider's infrastructure. It enables developers to create applications on a provider's platform over the Internet.
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Software-as-a-Service is where the provider supplies the hardware infrastructure, the software product and interacts with the user through a front-end portal. SaaS is a very broad market. Services can be anything from Web-based email to timekeeping applications. As service providers host applications and data, users are free to use services from any location as long as they have access to the Internet.
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Our view
More businesses are dipping their toe in the Cloud by using non mission-critical web-based applications to gain the flexibility and freedom from constraints inherent in server-based and aging legacy applications.
However it’s worth noting that web companies are equally exposed to risks such as congestion, hacks, outages, cyber attacks, human error and other problems and you’re just as reliant on the provider for enhancements.
Also, data protection and back-ups are not automatic and so confirming that the protection offered by your service provider matches your own business continuity plans and requirements is essential.
There is a balance to be reached, often trade-off’s to be made and there are opportunities to benefit from efficiencies. Our own Managed IT Support Service, Symphony utilises the Cloud to offer companies the ability to have their IT systems maintained and support services provisioned. Without having to invest in new technologies or technical expertise businesses can reduce maintenance costs whilst also having specialists monitor and conduct regular system checks.
The Cloud can also offer value to companies looking to leverage economies of scale by virtualising server environments and delivering services to employees on-line.
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If you need further advice on how your organisation can benefit from Cloud Computing please contact us.
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Cloud Computing
Pros and Cons
Pros
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Potential to reduce license costs based on a pay-per- user-per-month-model.
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No up-front capital expenditure for equipment required such as servers or applications.
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No maintenance required - data back-up’s are managed and security and AV patches carried out by the provider.
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Enables companies to reduce the complexities of IT by pooling resources to offer services to employees on-demand.
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Enables support service providers to offer remote managed IT support services; maintain systems and provide virtual support services.
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Efficiency gains and speed of deployment.
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Business Continuity/ Disaster Recovery are taken care of by the service provider. Typically your service provider will have redundant datacenters, so if your employees can access the Internet, they are going to be able to access your hosted data and applications.
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Loss of service can impact on your business if data cannot be accessed. Providing Internet access to all of your employees 100% of the time becomes a pre-requisite to using Cloud Computing.
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You need to ensure your provider supplies adequate protection against the potential loss of data.
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Reduced flexibility to customise applications and integrate with other applications.
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Even though your service provider probably provides anti-virus protection for hosted documents, you still need protection on your local PC to protect you against malicious files received from outside sources. Because you will be connected to the Internet all of the time, it is even more important to keep your PC up to date with security patches.
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Model can be restrictive and not as flexible as an internal model.
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Data security and privacy concerns are a barrier.
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Problems can occur when opening documents that are not hosted by your service provider. For example, you can create, edit and store your own MS Word documents using an application-as-a-service service provider. But if you get sent an MS Word document by one of your clients, you’re going to need to upload that document to your service provider before you can open it.
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Think Cloud Computing
is for you?
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