I wanted to write my own post about what Cloud Computing is, but there are many articles available on the ‘net already. The linked article to the right from PCMag explains this succinctly:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2372163,00.asp
Instead, I’ll concentrate on pros and cons of Cloud Computing, as I’ve had many years of experience in working with customers, proposing Cloud based solutions. One thing for sure, is that Cloud Computing is pervading all aspects of our lives, from personal usage (e.g. DropBox, OneDrive, Google Drive, WebMail, cloud apps, etc.) to professional usage (nicely covered with “X as a Service”). From a professional standpoint, it is still argued as to whether Cloud Computing brings real value to all organisations.
It’s true that some of the main advantages of Cloud Computing are:
That costs are balanced (as they tend to move companies from CapEx costs to OpEx). It means that companies no longer have to invest in physical hardware and purchase as a Service (XaaS). CFOs love moving to OpEx solutions as this makes more sense from a financial viewpoint and these are the folks that you should speak to.
There are no longer technical constraints on the computing power or network required. Most players in the market allow for flexibility on these elements and allow users to “pay as you go”. Customers only pay for the elements they need. FYI, the top three that most people speak of, are Google, AWS, Microsoft, but there are many others available (my personal favourite is Linode (www.linode.com) and is ideal for SMBs or home users, if you’re a Linux fan).
The Cloud provides a more secure method of backing up and restoring of local data. Additionally, most Cloud service providers will propose their own mechanisms to protect your data. There are different methods to keeping your data secured, such as local copies synchronized with Cloud copies or direct access to Cloud versions. Disaster recovery is built in. There are no longer any needs to manage disparate Data Centres and to provide replication between them in the event of issues occurring.
Cloud Computing platform, services and data can be accessed from anywhere in the world. This provides much increased flexibility and collaboration between employees of organisations, such as sharing applications, keeping up to date documentation, etc.
Cloud Computing platforms tend to be much quicker to deploy. Most providers will have standard images which can be deployed almost instantly and allows for complete systems to be fully functional in a very short period of time, enabling users to access and customize them according to their needs very quickly. Additionally, any core licence pricing will be built in to the overall costs, thereby removing one less hassle in managing licence fees. This also applies if customers purchase applications from the provider at the same time.
Cloud Computing platforms provide a much eco-friendlier way of reducing company carbon footprints. For smaller organisations, the decreased energy usage can provide dramatic internal cost savings.
However, there are cons to Cloud Computing too.
Running Cloud Computing platforms requires internet connectivity. It’s necessary to calculate all the factors to take into account (such as average total bandwidth requirements for applications, web based services, video collaboration, etc). Is data also stored locally? Can a network interruption cause critical issues in the day to day running of a business? It’s an important factor to consider as most Cloud Computing providers don’t provide the network connectivity to their platforms. Tip for the day: If network connectivity is critical, use two different providers. If one goes down, then it’s more likely that the other provider will still be able to provide services.
Whilst in the longer term, Cloud Computing platforms tend to be less expensive, in the planning phase, a good TCO should be drawn up, to weigh the cost benefits between an on-premise solution compared to a Cloud Computing platform. It’s not all about the hardware. Other factors to take into account include, principally, installation, management of the platforms, training, power, network, software and service costs.
Security and data protection laws are a critical element to take into account. Numerous companies are bound by local laws that mean they need to ensure that data does not leave the country for any reason. In this respect, certain Cloud Computing providers will guarantee local Data Centres for the provision of their services, whereas others won’t. What guarantees does the provider give to organisations for the protection of the Cloud Computing platform and its data? Does the data that an organisation wants to place into a Cloud Computing platform have any compliance regulations attached to it? Whilst Cloud Computing providers do tend to provide secure platforms for their customers, it remains that the customer is responsible for the security of their data.
Lawful interception. Whilst this may not be a major issue in most countries around the world (although most countries do require providers to allow for LI), there are certain countries that require methods to allow law enforcement agencies to intercept data transmissions (as well as provide them with full access to data) with very little excuse. Depending upon the Cloud Computing platform type, this can be an easy or difficult implementation. For example, a simple database server hosted by a Cloud provider would be an easy implementation to provide. A video collaboration system that allows law enforcement agencies to physically listen in/watch a video call would significantly increase costs in the development, implementation and management of a Cloud Computing provided infrastructure.
SLAs (Service Level Agreements) are a very important part for any organisation wishing to use Cloud Computing platforms. Most providers will have SLAs that they have in place already, but customers should pay very close attention to the wording of them, as they may not fit their needs, or in extreme cases, not be fit for purpose. For example, The Amazon EC2 outage in 2011, whilst lasting for nearly four days didn’t actually breach their SLAs as Amazon guaranteed 99.95% availability of the service over the trailing 365 days! So, any concerns about critical outages will need to be addressed and it’s for this reason that some organisations may prefer that an on-premise high availability or fault tolerant solution may be the route to address. This article covers the main areas in which Cloud Computing pros and cons are addressed for companies. There is another story behind Cloud Computing Solutions (which I’ll address in a future article).
NOTE: This article was originally published on LinkedIn at the following link: Here
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