7 Reasons Why You Should Switch to the Cloud.
What benefits can cloud computing bring to your organisation?
Cloud computing is a one of the biggest IT buzzwords in recent years, but what does it mean?
Cloud computing enables computing resources to be pooled, divided and allocated to different users, and has been proven to have tremendous benefits in the development and testing realm of IT.
These benefits, however, have been overshadowed by a large security concern and uptime assurances.
The establishment of a private cloud aims to lessen these concerns by dedicating exclusive hardware to each user. Instead of data being stored somewhere ‘in the cloud’, one can establish a dedicated group of servers where one’s data is stored, so as to alleviate security concerns. This solution can bring with it added benefits like improved uptime and reliability at a lower cost than with a traditional IT infrastructure.
Here are 7 reasons why changing to cloud computing can benefit your organisation:
1. Pooled computing resources, divided and allocated to different users, have been proven in the development and testing realm of IT to have tremendous benefits.
Much like a dedicated or collocated server, the security of your private cloud depends on a variety of factors. However, if you have the proper physical security, anti-virus software, and firewall rules in place, you can rest assured your data as safe as if it were sitting right next to your desk. With a private cloud, you know where your servers are located and that the proper physical and network security is in place.
2. The transition from physical to virtual servers leads to better flexibility.
The ability to spin up and tear down a server in a matter of minutes is incredibly powerful and useful. No longer is there any wasted effort in trying to size a server beforehand when you can create a server on the fly. With private cloud computing, you can reallocate resources in moments without worrying about finding a physical server that will have the resources your new server needs.
3. Fully utilize your hardware with better resource management.
Virtualization significantly increases the value of your physical server hardware. Instead of having 5 servers that average 10% CPU utilization, you can virtualize the 5 servers on one physical server, sharing the resources. This decreases rack space, power usage, and is easier to manage. This also allows you to create copies of your servers and have them up and running very quickly, now that they have been virtualized.
4. Virtual servers combined with a SAN allow for improved protection against disasters.
When you connect a SAN to your private cloud, incredible redundancy can be achieved. Not only can you load balance between servers, automatically shifting server resources between servers on the fly, but in an N+1 environment (having at least 1 extra server than absolutely necessary), you can shut down one server without causing downtime. Imagine performing maintenance on your server like adding more RAM, replacing a hard drive, or upgrading software, without experiencing any downtime. When configured correctly you could power off one server and it would automatically shift the virtual servers over to an available server in your cloud. Taking your disaster protection up one level, you could have another SAN in another data centre and perform SAN to SAN replication for a hot site DR environment capable of full recovery in less than 1 hour.
5. Switching to private cloud computing will save you time and money.
The best part about a private cloud is that not only do you get all of the great benefits of virtualization and security, but it can be cheaper and less of a hassle then hosting your own servers or buying dedicated servers. If your company has more than 2 servers, it could benefit from virtualization. If your company has more than 10 servers, it could benefit from private cloud computing with a dedicated SAN and multiple physical host servers. The public cloud revolutionized Information Technology forever; the private cloud brings the benefits to the masses.
6. Increased mobile access.
The amount that a business can rely on their data accessibility increases by storing files on the cloud rather than on a desktop. Many jobs require employees to travel for at least part of their duties, and it is not uncommon for travellers to have issues accessing programs stored on a desktop when away from the central business hub.
7. It integrates with everything.
Cloud computing is on the rise, so it should come as no surprise that there are a ton of Internet applications that are compatible with the cloud. Digital providers know that the cloud is the future of data storage, and therefore modify their products to match it.
