Jun

Cloud Computing and its Advantages

Cloud computing is an emerging technology being used by businesses in many different ways in order to help them save money but also so that they can update their IT systems to reflect the changes in attitude and technology. As well as cloud web hosting services being available for businesses that require added reliability, cloud computing services are also available. The main idea of cloud computing is to allow users to store all of their data in one location on the internet that can then be accessed by the many different devices that they may be using to view their data such as desktop computers and mobile devices.

Cloud Hosting Services will allow you to keep all of your data in synchronization constantly meaning that if you upload a new file to your cloud space from one computer, it will be instantly view-able on another computer that is also part of your cloud – granted that the second computer is connected to the internet. Another good example of this will be with emails since if you have your email accounts setup on two devices, say a computer and your mobile device, then any changes that you make to the emails in your account will automatically be reflected on the other device; for example if you receive a new email and read it then this change of state will be reflected on all devices other than the one that you are using. This type of synchronization is useful for those that are using different devices since for example it will mean that you won’t need to have constantly dock your mobile device with your desktop computer to reflect any changes.

If you choose a cloud web hosting service then you will realize that cloud computing can also offer increased reliability over traditional single-server configurations. Reliability is an issue that is increasingly threatening to the web hosting industry these days as customers are expecting web hosting companies to be able to provide them with at least 99.9% guaranteed uptime. A cloud web hosting environment is one that will be making use of a large number of servers and each server will be designed for a specific role, with each role having its own dedicated server cluster; this type of configuration allows web hosting companies to guarantee high levels of reliability as it means that if the primary server fails, there will be at least one ‘fallback’ server available to take up the role of the affected server.

Data security is something else that cloud computing can offer as the data that you upload to your cloud space is likely to be replicated to more than one location meaning that even if a primary storage cluster does fail, the company providing you with your cloud computing services should be able to recover your data for you. If a business is going to rely solely on cloud computing in order for its IT requirements to be met then it is going to want the guarantee that any data, including emails and calendar events, are going to be kept safe and secure and that there will be no data loss in any situation.

If a company wishes to offer private cloud services then it is going to have taken extra security precautions to help safeguard the data of its users as if anyone gets in trouble for lost or stolen data, it is going to be the company that is hosting it. There will be multiple security measures in place on both servers and the wider network in a cloud hosting environment as this will help to secure all data stored on servers as well as any information that may be passing around the cloud internally. Encryption is also a popular method available as it will mean that the data stored will not be readable unless a key is provided to decrypt it; although this is something that web hosting providers may not wish to do themselves, it may be a good idea for you to consider encrypting anything that you choose to upload to the cloud.

By choosing cloud services for your major business requirements including collaborative services such as calendaring and email, you will be able to relieve certain duties from your IT staff since you are going to be outsourcing such services to a third-party. If you are currently using your own servers to deal with services such as calendaring and emails then by outsourcing you will be able to scrap these services, thus saving you money. Furthermore by reducing the amount of work that your IT staff have to do, you may need to lay off some of your staff; although this is going to have a negative impact on them, it will allow you to save more money in the long term.

It is a good idea to only consider larger companies that are offering cloud computing services for the time being as they are the only ones that are going to have the capital and resources that will allow their cloud computing services to be effective. A cloud computing environment requires a large number of servers if it is to be effective and successful in meeting its primary principle, although smaller web hosting companies have the power to higher their own dedicated servers it is going to work better when a company has direct access to its servers. Smaller companies also won’t have the funds to allow them to purchase the numbers of servers that are required.

In conclusion, cloud computing has many advantages that it can provide businesses with both in the short term and long term. Although reliable cloud computing requires significant investment, if you have the money and are able to justify the cost then you will find cloud based services such as cloud hosting well worth the investment. It is a good idea to research the various cloud computing providers there are available if you are going to be spending a good amount of money as this will provide you with the best chance of finding a package that suits your requirements.