One of the most vocalized terms in use today is “the cloud”. This two-word saying is a metaphor for the Internet. For many years engineers would use cloud silhouettes in network drawings and diagrams to represent the Internet. This is still common practice today. However, in recent years the term “the cloud” is also synonymous with virtualization and cloud computing.
Most people don’t realize that they are most likely using several cloud services. Some examples are Google Gmail – cloud based email, Netflix – cloud based video streaming, Facebook – cloud based social networking and Dropbox – cloud based data storage. All of these cloud services you use over the Internet in place of your computer hard drive. The cloud is the opposite of your hard drive and local storage.
For a very long time organizations have swayed back and forth on which architecture and delivery model for applications and services is the most reliable, secure and scalable. Businesses have debated whether or not to build out infrastructure and deliver applications and services internally from on premises solutions or forgo the build out instead to purchase cloud subscription services. Today’s solutions offer more flexible deployment models where companies can utilize hybrid and blended architectures with services delivered from both on premises infrastructure and the cloud.
There are many benefits to the cloud delivery model. The most prevalent is the reduction in capital expenditure. To build out on premises infrastructure for application and services money would be spent on hardware and software. In comparison, a cloud model would not require a capital expenditure for hardware and software but instead require an operational expenditure for the cloud subscription service. Two great examples of cloud services used by large companies are Salesforce and WebEx. Companies that utilize these cloud services pay an ongoing operating expenditure. Sure companies could purchase on premises CRM and Collaboration solutions similar to Salesforce and WebEx but they wouldn’t get the benefits of the cloud.
Businesses today are looking for cloud based services fro competitive advantage. It’s costly to stand infrastructure up and tear it down project after project. Also, building out infrastructure on premises takes time and does not provide flexibility to easily scale up and down as needed or when temporary service is a requirement. There are many companies providing infrastructure as a cloud service. Some of these companies are Google, Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud and Rackspace.
Some of the other benefits for cloud services are the ability to quickly scale and ramp up as needed. In particular, for geographically distributed companies cloud services provide the needed wide-reaching access. Remember the alternative would be adding more infrastructure to scale and distribute infrastructure for people across geographies.
Another advantage for businesses utilizing cloud services versus building out on premises infrastructure is maintenance and support. Enterprise infrastructures require regular maintenance and support for staying current on software releases and hardware lifecycles. Upgrading hardware and software can be very expensive for an organization. In comparison, with cloud solutions the cloud service provider is responsible for maintaining and keeping the platform current.
For individuals, “the cloud” is an ideal place to purchase subscription services for email, data backup and also video streaming or on demand. For businesses, it dependents on the size of your business and operating models. Putting aside those factors, “the cloud” is accommodating for fast deployments when you need to deploy applications or test applications immediately.