In the world of business there is a great deal of talk about cloud computing. This concept has grown from an interesting idea into a fully functional reality in just a few short years. With services such as
Dell Cloud Computing now available, a move into the cloud has become both attractive and effective.
To the Cloud
Cloud computing leverages the power of multiple computers working together. The technology achieves vastly superior processing power and speed. A cloud can reside out on the Internet like Microsoft Live 365 applications or it can exist on your own private network. It can also be a hybrid of the two. There are many exciting features of a cloud:
- Processing power and storage capacity are effectively unlimited
- Resources are pooled
- Easy scalability to be as small or as large as you need
- Available on demand with self-service provisioning
- Extreme automation
- Pay only for what you use
There are three basic cloud service models:
- Software as a Service (SaaS)
- Platform as a Service (PaaS)
- Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
Let’s look at each in more depth.
SaaS
A service supplies something that you and your employees need. This service will make a wide range of computing applications available such as customer relations management, email, collaboration and enterprise resource management. SaaS can also provide all the common office applications that you need for such tasks as word processing and spreadsheet work.
The effortless nature of this service is plain when one realizes the combined power of many computers working together. Applications provided in this way relieve the strain on individual workstations and make even computer tablets viable for full office usage.
PaaS
This form of cloud computing is a platform for software development. It is made up of various development tools along with databases and middleware. It can also provide infrastructure software for your organization. The flexible power this provides is a superior platform for your development needs.
IaaS
This cloud structure provides powerful tools for your system administrators to set up provisioning of computing, storage and network resources. This enables them to deploy and provide both applications and operating systems for your entire office. Like SaaS, this relieves the strain on individual workstations and allows your employees to concentrate on their work rather than the needs of their computer.
Build Me a Cloud
A cloud service can take several structures. As the technology is further explored, there will surely be additional deployments available. The three primary models are these:
- Private clouds
- Public clouds
- Hybrid clouds
There are advantages to each form. Let us explore them a bit more.
Private Clouds
A cloud of this nature exists for you and your organization alone. Access is controlled and only authorized users are allowed to login. Your own IT department can use multiple server computers to build such a cloud locally. The security of such a deployment is superior and only your own people can work with this cloud.
Public Clouds
These versatile clouds are available to all organizations and users on a shared basis. The advantage of this type of cloud is that it can minimize your initial capital investment. It eliminates expensive hardware costs for additional servers. Public clouds of today are highly secure. Using data encryption algorithms, they offer peace of mind for you. They are also highly agile and efficient and offer massive scalability. This cloud can be as big or as small as you need.
Hybrid Clouds
As the name implies, this technology links your private cloud to available public clouds. This solution provides extra resources for peak times when your private cloud begins to slow down as you approach maximum utilization. Think of it as a safety net.
A hybrid cloud can also allocate resources to either the private or the public cloud. For instance, your sensitive database can stay safely on your own private cloud while the database applications that access it can reside in the public cloud. This provides added flexibility and power for you and your employees.
Cloud Nine
Cloud computing derives its awesome power from many computers. Solutions such as Dell Cloud Computing use server farms built of state of the art hardware with the applications and operating systems that you need in your company. It is truly a completely new computing paradigm with strength and resources unheard of even a few years ago. In the constant evolution of computer technology, it is a logical step forward.
In order for you to compete effectively, your IT infrastructure needs to scale quickly to meet the demands that face you today. A cloud solution maximizes the utilization of your IT investment. The modern portfolio of cloud computing solutions gives you the flexible infrastructure that can put you at the head of the pack. You can bring your cloud down to earth today by utilizing the powerful and adaptable cloud services.
