Finding the prospect of hiring an IT Director, buying servers and maintaining software a little daunting? Or do you feel a little tied to your office/laptop and wish you could break the chain? Cloud computing can help.
Cloud computing is Internet based computing. The software and data are not on your computer or mobile device. They are hosted online on another server, and you access them remotely. It differs significantly from the traditional computing format, where users are required to purchase and maintain all the hardware and software to run their business.
Concerned about this new way of doing things? Let's address the myths, misconceptions and benefits:
Misconception: I don't want to pay for something if I don't own it! If you don't own it, you don't need to maintain it. You won't need to hire out repairs or upgrade software versions. Software is never an investment, hardware seldom is. After just a few years, they'll need to be upgraded or replaced. Sometimes they aren't compatible and you'll be required to do a hardware upgrade, just so your software will work. And what about your data? Backups are a headache at the best of times. When your data is hosted online, you can forget about lost data. It's securely stored at your service providers' data center.
Myth: It's not secure! Data security is important, and everyone feels that their office/home/garage/car is more secure that a strangers state of the art data center, but that likely isn't the case. Spend a few minutes on some of these host providers sites, and you will get a feel for the level of security that they provide. It actually seems to be a bit overboard.
Benefit: You don't have to be in the office to get work done! This is one of the main reasons to go this route. Whether you prefer working from a park bench across the road from your office, or from a cafe in Paris, your documents and software are always available. They are 'in the clouds'. Just find an Internet cafe, wireless access point for your hand-held or log in using your home network and you can have everything at your fingertips.
Benefit: You don't need to guess about your future requirements. This can reduce a lot of worry, and extra expense. The adage "buy as much as you can afford" doesn't need to apply to hardware anymore. Simply "pay for what you use" and forget about all the other worries.
A cloud service is unique in three ways:
- It is provided on demand, often by the minute or the hour, or by volume of data transferred.
- It is elastic, meaning that users can use as much or as little as they require.
- The service is hosted and managed by the service provider. Users simply require a computer and an Internet connection.
Basically, the services are divided into three major categories:
- Software-as-a-Service (SaaS): Eliminates the need to install specific software on a users computer, and as a result avoids maintenance and upgrade concerns as well. The actual applications are hosted (and owned) by the provider. Web-based email and Google Apps are examples of SaaS. Because the software and data are both hosted online, it allows users to access from anywhere.
- Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS): Provides a computing platform, and often makes use of both SaaS (see above) and IaaS (see below). It enables use of complex applications, without requiring the purchase of hardware and software to match. Google Apps and Force.com are examples of PaaS.
- Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS): Provides a virtual server complete with unique IP addresses and storage as required. This is a useful format, because users always have the required resources on demand, without overbuying in advance. Normally works on a pay for consumption format. Amazon Web Services is an example of IaaS.
