Clouds today are not what clouds will be tomorrow. As the technology of clouds evolve, clouds will become more tailored to the needs of specific consumer groups, specific professional groups and specific industries and markets.
Vertical marketing of cloud technology will bring about vertical branding of clouds. Google Home is one indicator of this trend. Google Home is a cloud platform that is geared for the home, the home consumer. Saleforce.com , with the promotion of its Health Cloud, is another example of a vertical cloud marketing trend. Other cloud providers such as Amazon, Microsoft Azure, IBM, HP and Rackspace will more than likely join in this trend, if they already have not.
Today though, companies, professionals, and consumers for the most part must still sort through an ocean of IT jargon to determine what cloud provider actually can fill their specific cloud computing, service and software needs. Those who are knew to cloud technology, and are not IT professionals, are forced to learn the meaning of unfamiliar terms such as Platform as a Service (PaaS), Software as a Service (SaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and so on and so on.
These terms baffle many and are not conducive to making sales to companies that simply want to know what the cloud means to their professional lives and business organizations. A vertical marketing approach that uses terms that are familiar to specific types of professionals and businesses, and avoids terms that are IT professional centric may well be a better way to educate target markets about the cloud and generate market interest. IT centric words, still, have their place. After all its IT departments and CIOs that actually make cloud buying decisions. As well, it is the IT staff that evaluates a cloud provider based on network metrics such as computer time, hardware allocation capability, security and optimization capabilities.
Cloud vertical marketing will open the way to a more highly competitive market. For example, there is little doubt that a biotechnology company would prefer to go to a cloud provider that focuses on biotechnology business and scientific needs than just an everyday generic cloud provider The ideal biotechnology cloud provider would specialize in high-powered genetic SaaS, databases specific to the needs of biotechnology companies, hardware configurations that are optimized for intensive genome calculations and even have PaaS specifically made for the development of biotech software. All of which would help reduce not only operating costs of biotechnology companies but reduce the cost of market entry.
The list of vertical clouds is as endless as the number of different business markets. For example, automotive clouds, agricultural clouds, transportation clouds, logistics clouds, integrated circuit clouds to name just a few possibilities. . This means that there is plenty of work for cloud providers to do. And it means that the ones that do this vertical work will end up with major market shares in specific and lucrative vertical cloud markets.
Friday, September 8, 2017
Cloud Computing for Home Users: Defining the Home Cloud
With all the different cloud definitions it is easy to get confused about what a cloud is. The truth of the matter is that a cloud is no more than just a giant computer. Different cloud providers, such as Google and Microsoft both have giant computers that they call their cloud. And they let you use their giant computers for a monthly subscription fee or in many cases, for free.
More precisely, Google and Microsoft as well as other cloud providers, have more than one giant computer for you. Google Home, for instance, is a giant computer (or cloud), that has special software that is designed for home users. Google Home lets you make phone calls and lets you search for information through voice command. This software is all accessed when you give a voice command to your Google Home device. The Google Home Cloud can also be accessed through your cell phone, that is if you have downloaded the Google Home app to your cell phone.
Different cloud providers, provide different types of clouds, which for the more tech savvy, may be called computer platforms or computer networks, or distributed processing platforms. These different clouds are designed for different types of people with different needs. The Google Home cloud has been designed for the home. It was designed to meet the computer needs of people when they are at home. Another popular cloud, called the Creative Cloud (from Adobe Systems) has been designed for artists, graphic designers and all-things multimedia including video films. When you sign up for the Adobe Cloud, you gain access to all of Adobe's software as well as Adobe's giant computer.
There are also general-purpose clouds. These clouds are designed for the business needs of corporations. Corporations require advanced business software and in many cases, super giant sized computers. These super giant computers, which can also be called supercomputers, may be called onto to process millions of sales transactions every day or monitor business activity from every corner of the world, every minute of the day.
As the cloud concept progresses, expect to see clouds for every type of profession and activity. For example, for emergency situations, emergency workers access Emergency Clouds. These Emergency Clouds store emergency data, and have emergency analysis software on them. Emergency workers access Emergency Clouds through their cell phones or through their lap tops.
Clouds often work together with other clouds. For example, a Home Cloud, at times, in an emergency, may need to access the data in an Emergency Cloud. Or, an Emergency Cloud, may want to send out information to Googles Home Cloud. Google's Home Cloud in turn could alert all its subscribers about emergency information they need to know.
Thursday, September 7, 2017
Reducing Cloud Costs with Cloud and Business Management Services
Costs have been one of the major reasons organizations have switched from private clouds to public clouds. Startups embrace the public cloud because it eliminates the need to build and manage a private cloud on-site. This saves on initial startup costs that include IT hardware, IT software and IT staff. For a high tech startup comes other public cloud benefits. One is that the company does not have to concern itself with IT issues and can focus on product development and product marketing issues.
Well, that is at least true in theory until the monthly cloud bills come floating through the door. Many companies will just pay the bill when they are in start-up frenzy mode. The more cloud savvy will start looking around for ways to find out how to reduce cloud costs.
What the latter will find out is that cloud ignorance is increasing cloud bills. The truth about the cloud is that many companies over allocate cloud resources, such as cloud instances (processors) which may result in cloud billings that are 2 or 3 times than they need to be.
Newer companies may not even have one IT expert on staff. They may depend solely on the support services of the cloud vendor. This means that the company is in the dark about how to reduce cloud costs. Not only do they not know how to optimize cloud infrastructures, but they also don't how to streamline automated processes so that cloud costs and company inefficiencies are mitigated. .
Forgetting about IT altogether is one way to go. However, one should also remember that IT, business process flows, and business automation are skills that a company should have a handle on. If they don't, they are not only subjecting themselves to unnecessarily high cloud bills, but are missing out on the benefits the high processing power that the cloud offers. True cloud power translates to lower business operating costs and more effective marketing and sales operations. All of which, make a more expensive cloud bill pay for itself.
Ideally, any company that uses the cloud, should know how to use it such that the cloud hardware and software is optimized for the lowest cost and the best performance (cloud management services). And they should know how to use the cloud so that businesses processes can be continually improved (cloud business process management services). Without the two, a company never will realize higher revenue growth, lower time to market and continued reductions in operating costs. Something that their cloud-savvy competitors are only to pleased to hear.
Monday, September 4, 2017
Mobile data centers offer different solutions to intense cloud computation problems
In a world of large data centers called clouds, intensive software processing applications that once took hours to do can be done in minutes if not seconds. One of the problems though is transit time from the point of data collection to the data center and back again. The time to transmit data to and from a data center, the cloud, is often limited by the speed of the internet. This is not a problem for some applications, but for other applications, such as Internet of Things, applications, where a machine must respond to tens of thousands of events quickly, it can be problematic. The time to send the data can far exceed the time to process the data.
Simply put, does this mean that data centers should be smaller and placed, almost everywhere. Or should they continue as they are as a massive buildings containing thousands if not millions of microprocessors.
Recent data architecture trends suggest that the future will need both and will have both. Data scientist look at the pool of over 8 billion cells phones and see a network of over 8 billion microprocessors that remain idle most of the time. Tapping into cell phone compute power may be one way of offering a new way to process and deliver large amounts of data quickly.
But there are more unused processors in the world that can be tapped. There are a large bank of computers at companies and organizations that go unused at night. As well, during the day, they are often underused. This begs the question, should PCs be designed differently. That is should they be designed so that they can be automatically configured and connected together as data centers.
There is even more unused computer powerout there and more coming on the horizon. Automobiles. Automobiles complete with processors for GPS applications and self-driving applications. With hundreds of millions of automobile processors sitting idle isn't it about time data architects think about how to connect these processors as the ultimate moving interconnected data center - the moving cloud.
Simply put, does this mean that data centers should be smaller and placed, almost everywhere. Or should they continue as they are as a massive buildings containing thousands if not millions of microprocessors.
Recent data architecture trends suggest that the future will need both and will have both. Data scientist look at the pool of over 8 billion cells phones and see a network of over 8 billion microprocessors that remain idle most of the time. Tapping into cell phone compute power may be one way of offering a new way to process and deliver large amounts of data quickly.
But there are more unused processors in the world that can be tapped. There are a large bank of computers at companies and organizations that go unused at night. As well, during the day, they are often underused. This begs the question, should PCs be designed differently. That is should they be designed so that they can be automatically configured and connected together as data centers.
There is even more unused computer powerout there and more coming on the horizon. Automobiles. Automobiles complete with processors for GPS applications and self-driving applications. With hundreds of millions of automobile processors sitting idle isn't it about time data architects think about how to connect these processors as the ultimate moving interconnected data center - the moving cloud.
Saturday, September 2, 2017
Look Before You Leap: public clouds reported to be more costly than private clouds
Listening to all the great features and benefits of the public cloud, it's easy to get caught up in the allure of public clouds. Not only is there the attraction of powerful never-been-done before cloud apps, but also the sense that the public cloud will eliminate all your IT headaches, drama and costs.
According to recent studies (1) this is not always the case. But in all things cloud, it depends on the company and who you talk to. And it also depends on the public cloud you use. Many companies, that are IT savvy, have come to realize that they actually save quite a bit of money with a private cloud, even when considering the cost of IT upgrades and IT staff.
Apparently it's not uncommon after switching to a public cloud to wince once the monthly bills start arriving. Bills ranging in the $40,000 to $100,000 a month range cause many CIOs to think twice. And what they think about is how big of a colocation private cloud that can buy with that amount of money. And they think whether or not its worth it to have their business records in a public cloud.
Even with those considerations, CIOs must still pause and think. Will public cloud costs come down in the future? As well, just like there are hidden public costs are there also hidden application benefits of a public cloud? Finally, there is a question of whether or not a company wants to remove itself to far from the evolving world of cloud technology? CIOs might also see some value of having first class cloud professionals on-board, especially if there isn't much of a cost difference between private and public clouds
The cost debate between public and private clouds tends to end after a private cloud reaches a certain size. If a company has a huge data center, its difficult for a public cloud to beat the cost of a private cloud (2). Then again, that's not to say that even the biggest private clouds can make some use of a public cloud to save money and reduce risk.
The competing benefits of private clouds and public clouds will always tilt depending on the application and the company. Such competing benefits is what is driving the growth of hybrid cloud architectures. The hybrid model, which is part public and part private cloud. may offer the best cloud cost/performance ratios. However, again, that will depend on who you talk to, what they know and what the cloud is used for.
Cloud Learning Links
(1) Public vs. private cloud cost comparison finds enterprise winners, TechTarget, Aug 2017, Robert Gates
(2) The Complete Cloud Buy VS Build Calculator, TheCalculator,
(3) Google Cloud Pricing Calculator, Google
According to recent studies (1) this is not always the case. But in all things cloud, it depends on the company and who you talk to. And it also depends on the public cloud you use. Many companies, that are IT savvy, have come to realize that they actually save quite a bit of money with a private cloud, even when considering the cost of IT upgrades and IT staff.
Apparently it's not uncommon after switching to a public cloud to wince once the monthly bills start arriving. Bills ranging in the $40,000 to $100,000 a month range cause many CIOs to think twice. And what they think about is how big of a colocation private cloud that can buy with that amount of money. And they think whether or not its worth it to have their business records in a public cloud.
Even with those considerations, CIOs must still pause and think. Will public cloud costs come down in the future? As well, just like there are hidden public costs are there also hidden application benefits of a public cloud? Finally, there is a question of whether or not a company wants to remove itself to far from the evolving world of cloud technology? CIOs might also see some value of having first class cloud professionals on-board, especially if there isn't much of a cost difference between private and public clouds
The cost debate between public and private clouds tends to end after a private cloud reaches a certain size. If a company has a huge data center, its difficult for a public cloud to beat the cost of a private cloud (2). Then again, that's not to say that even the biggest private clouds can make some use of a public cloud to save money and reduce risk.
The competing benefits of private clouds and public clouds will always tilt depending on the application and the company. Such competing benefits is what is driving the growth of hybrid cloud architectures. The hybrid model, which is part public and part private cloud. may offer the best cloud cost/performance ratios. However, again, that will depend on who you talk to, what they know and what the cloud is used for.
Cloud Learning Links
(1) Public vs. private cloud cost comparison finds enterprise winners, TechTarget, Aug 2017, Robert Gates
(2) The Complete Cloud Buy VS Build Calculator, TheCalculator,
(3) Google Cloud Pricing Calculator, Google
GPU Cloud Computing Gains Momentum: Walmart Picks Nvidia's GPU Technology
If your designing your own private cloud or you are looking for a public cloud provider, one important consideration is cloud hardware. New advances in integrated circuit (chip technology) are quickly making traditional cloud hardware obsolete. Servers built on microprocessors, such as Intel's famous line of processors, are becoming a thing of the past. Replacing these microprocessors in cloud servers are graphic processing units (GPUs). Nvidia, which has its roots in graphic processor design, is quickly taking data center market share away from Intel. As the Market Realist points out in a telling graph, cloud builders are choosing Nvidia's data center products hands down over Intel.
As a specific telling example, Nvidia recently won over Walmart with its data center products. Walmart will use Nvidia's products in a GPU farm configuration to support its business operations. Amazon has also reported to have adopted GPU based technology for use in its data centers.
The switch in technology from microprocessor-based clouds to GPU-based clouds and even neural clouds, underscores just how tricky it can be to build and maintain a private cloud. Companies that have invested heavily in cloud microprocessor technology, now must switch over to GPU technology to remain competitive. This not only means changes in hardware, but also software. Even more importantly it means changes in the staff at the leading cloud providers. Professionals with artificial intelligence, neural network expertise and graphic processing experience are high demand items at cloud provider companies right now.
The change in cloud technology is not expected to be the last. But the switch to GPU and neural cloud technology is expected to continue. This all spells good news for companies that have a multiple cloud technology and are not locked into a specific cloud vendor. On the other hand, for companies that have locked themselves into cloud vendors that have not switched over yet, problems may be on the horizon. Technology changes at cloud companies, especially small ones, can spell trouble. If a technology change is not done right, melt downs can occur and data can be lost. Maybe even worse than that, small cloud vendors can simply go bankrupt because they lose market share too quickly.
Cloud Learning Links
Telsa Data Center GPUs for Servers, Nvidia
Data Center: NVIDIA's Key Growth Driver in 2018, Market Realist, Paige Tanner
Friday, September 1, 2017
Software as a Service Cloud rains over SalesForce
Software as a Service in the Microsoft Azure Cloud is creating problems for other SaaS suppliers. However at the same time its opening up sales avenue for Microsoft's clients. The new SaaS cloud bases Microsoft Relationship Sales package has resulted in Microsoft racking up SaaS revenue.
And why shouldn't it. The Microsoft Relationship Sales package includes the LinkedIn Sales Navigator and Microsoft's Dynamics for Sales solution. Microsoft acquired Linkedin in 2016 along with its endless number of members. Not to mention an wealth of data on the hundreds of thousands of companies that LinkedIn members work for.
This all makes Microsoft's Dynamics for Sales solution more interesting. Just exactly how did Microsoft streamline all this data into a successful top-selling SaaS sales solution? And are customers of Microsoft's Dynamics for Sales seeing their sales efforts less costly and more effective?
Learning Links
Linkedin Helping Microsoft Pull Ahead of its SaaS Rivals, eWeek
SaaS For Supply Chain Management,
The Top 25 Most Popular SAAS Cloud Apps for Business, Channele2e
Best SaaS and Top B2B Apps of 2017, Financesonline
10 SAAS Companies to Watch, Network World
And why shouldn't it. The Microsoft Relationship Sales package includes the LinkedIn Sales Navigator and Microsoft's Dynamics for Sales solution. Microsoft acquired Linkedin in 2016 along with its endless number of members. Not to mention an wealth of data on the hundreds of thousands of companies that LinkedIn members work for.
This all makes Microsoft's Dynamics for Sales solution more interesting. Just exactly how did Microsoft streamline all this data into a successful top-selling SaaS sales solution? And are customers of Microsoft's Dynamics for Sales seeing their sales efforts less costly and more effective?
Learning Links
Linkedin Helping Microsoft Pull Ahead of its SaaS Rivals, eWeek
SaaS For Supply Chain Management,
The Top 25 Most Popular SAAS Cloud Apps for Business, Channele2e
Best SaaS and Top B2B Apps of 2017, Financesonline
10 SAAS Companies to Watch, Network World
What is a cloud computing platform?
The definition of a cloud computing platform expands and changes with time. How can it not? Cloud computing extends over the never-ending and evolving expanse of computer architecture and technology. Instead of trying to define a cloud computing platform in a narrow domain, a broader definition is needed: A cloud computing platform is a human and computer accessible network of configurable computer hardware components and interconnected software applications.
A cloud computing platform may also be viewed as a user-accessible data center in which a user can control, apply and configure for what ever purpose they see fit. Cloud computer platforms can be public, meaning that a business or the general public can buy a subscription to access it. Cloud computer platforms can also be private This meaning that only a select group of people can access it. For example, many governments and companies have private cloud computing platforms. Finally, a cloud computing platform can be a hybrid. A hybrid cloud computing platform is in general a private cloud platform that can be configured to interact with a public computer platform.
For the real business world, and the world of cloud service providers, cloud platforms are classified into more specific categories. There are for example, PaaS platforms also known as Platforms as a Service. These cloud platforms are targeted at software developers. Software developers that want to develop specific applications, built with specific programming languages, such as Java, PHP or Ruby, are the end-users of PaaS cloud platforms. Developers often prefer PaaS platforms over in-house software development platforms. This is because a PaaS cloud platform provides an unlimited number of processors, servers, data storage, operating systems, and applications specific development software and tools to create their application in.
For a business or consumer, a cloud platform often means a place to store data. It can also mean a place where different software programs can be accessed. For a company, a cloud platform is a place where all members of the company can access software programs, store files and share information with others. For companies that don't want to have the hardware and software needed for a cloud on-site (a private cloud), they are more and more often,selecting a public cloud computing platform for their entire company. If the right type of public cloud or clouds are chosen, this can often mean significant savings for the company. And this is because, with the right type of clouds, a company no longer has to support in-house hardware and software upgrades for all the members of the company.
Learning Links
Nine Cloud Development Platforms on the Rise, InfoWorld
Debating the Definition of Cloud Computing Platforms, Forbes
The 20 Coolest Cloud Platforms & Vendors, CRN
A Short Introduction to Cloud Platforms, An Enterprise Oriented View, Chapman and Associates
What is PaaS?, Microsoft
A cloud computing platform may also be viewed as a user-accessible data center in which a user can control, apply and configure for what ever purpose they see fit. Cloud computer platforms can be public, meaning that a business or the general public can buy a subscription to access it. Cloud computer platforms can also be private This meaning that only a select group of people can access it. For example, many governments and companies have private cloud computing platforms. Finally, a cloud computing platform can be a hybrid. A hybrid cloud computing platform is in general a private cloud platform that can be configured to interact with a public computer platform.
For the real business world, and the world of cloud service providers, cloud platforms are classified into more specific categories. There are for example, PaaS platforms also known as Platforms as a Service. These cloud platforms are targeted at software developers. Software developers that want to develop specific applications, built with specific programming languages, such as Java, PHP or Ruby, are the end-users of PaaS cloud platforms. Developers often prefer PaaS platforms over in-house software development platforms. This is because a PaaS cloud platform provides an unlimited number of processors, servers, data storage, operating systems, and applications specific development software and tools to create their application in.
For a business or consumer, a cloud platform often means a place to store data. It can also mean a place where different software programs can be accessed. For a company, a cloud platform is a place where all members of the company can access software programs, store files and share information with others. For companies that don't want to have the hardware and software needed for a cloud on-site (a private cloud), they are more and more often,selecting a public cloud computing platform for their entire company. If the right type of public cloud or clouds are chosen, this can often mean significant savings for the company. And this is because, with the right type of clouds, a company no longer has to support in-house hardware and software upgrades for all the members of the company.
Learning Links
Nine Cloud Development Platforms on the Rise, InfoWorld
Debating the Definition of Cloud Computing Platforms, Forbes
The 20 Coolest Cloud Platforms & Vendors, CRN
A Short Introduction to Cloud Platforms, An Enterprise Oriented View, Chapman and Associates
What is PaaS?, Microsoft
Managed Cloud Computing Companies offer the Best of Public, Private and Hybrid Clouds
Managed cloud computing is the use of outside IT services to construct, build upon and optimize an organizations private, public and hybrid clouds. The rise of managed cloud computing services is in response to a need to take advantage of the cost-savings from the public cloud and to improve the services of an organizations private and hybrid cloud architectures.
A managed cloud computing company can provide the information and the technical staff to help an organization decide which cloud providers and which cloud provider services will work the best for a specific organizations needs. Cloud management companies can also duplicate complete private IT infrastructures and manage them at cost points that are lower than most private businesses can do themselves.
Some managed cloud computing companies will actually duplicate a complete IT infrastructure at their own data center or at a cloud vendor computing data center. This would include all the hardware and software, such as servers, firewalls and software. This duplication of a companies private cloud frees organizations from their expensive IT budgets, but at the same time provides an IT infrastructure that an organizations employees are familiar with.
Because managed cloud computing companies specialize in different market segments, these companies are aware of the best cloud computing solutions for a specific market segment. They are also aware of hardware and software advances that will keep an IT infrastructure performing at optimum levels of reliability. Furthermore they are experts with compliance regulations and how best to meet them. They also know how to keep data secure and to effectively backup data so that it is very unlikely that data will be lost or compromised.
Services that managed cloud computing companies offer include cloud security, private and public cloud applications synchronization, cloud computing performance optimization, cloud as a service, cloud computing deployment, cloud computing scaling, and the development of operating system and programming language specific cloud platforms. The best cloud computing management companies will be able to commit to guaranteed cost reductions and network performance increases as part of the program.
Learning Links
Benefits of Managed Cloud Computing, OnlineTech
Benefits of Managed Cloud Computing Gigenet
A managed cloud computing company can provide the information and the technical staff to help an organization decide which cloud providers and which cloud provider services will work the best for a specific organizations needs. Cloud management companies can also duplicate complete private IT infrastructures and manage them at cost points that are lower than most private businesses can do themselves.
Some managed cloud computing companies will actually duplicate a complete IT infrastructure at their own data center or at a cloud vendor computing data center. This would include all the hardware and software, such as servers, firewalls and software. This duplication of a companies private cloud frees organizations from their expensive IT budgets, but at the same time provides an IT infrastructure that an organizations employees are familiar with.
Because managed cloud computing companies specialize in different market segments, these companies are aware of the best cloud computing solutions for a specific market segment. They are also aware of hardware and software advances that will keep an IT infrastructure performing at optimum levels of reliability. Furthermore they are experts with compliance regulations and how best to meet them. They also know how to keep data secure and to effectively backup data so that it is very unlikely that data will be lost or compromised.
Services that managed cloud computing companies offer include cloud security, private and public cloud applications synchronization, cloud computing performance optimization, cloud as a service, cloud computing deployment, cloud computing scaling, and the development of operating system and programming language specific cloud platforms. The best cloud computing management companies will be able to commit to guaranteed cost reductions and network performance increases as part of the program.
Learning Links
Benefits of Managed Cloud Computing, OnlineTech
Benefits of Managed Cloud Computing Gigenet
Choosing the Right Clouds for Your Business; Public, Private or Hybrid?
Choosing the right cloud configuration for your business is critical for lowering IT costs, managing company growth, and protecting against calamities. Companies that are overly dependent on their own private cloud face rising IT costs and vulnerability to IT business calamities. On the other hand, companies that are overly dependent on public clouds, place their IT future in the hands of strangers. Companies that make judicious use of a hybrid cloud architecture, minimize the risks and maximize the gains that can be obtained from both private and public clouds.
Private business clouds, swaths of interconnected servers and software and computers, were what many companies of the new millennia were built on. IT staffs in the early 2000s, built up on-site networks which connected the companies' computers together. They installed software on the servers for the employees to share, backed up data on the network to hard drives and tape drives, and developed software that glued the company' IT operations together and kept it running. As the company's IT needs grew, so did the complexity and problems of running the in-house network. Computer crashes, data thefts, and breakdowns on infrastructure software as well as the time to maintain that software all became bigger issues as well as IT costs. What once were small networks, grew into large networks that constantly needed hardware and software upgrades, which constantly needed larger IT budgets, new computers and new software, and higher levels of professional staff to maintain.
Public clouds today present a solution to the problems, costs and complexities of on-site private clouds. With a public cloud, a company no longer needs to have an on-site network and associated IT staff to support the companies IT network. With a public cloud, all hardware (hardware as a service, HAAS) and software (software as a service, SAAS) that a company needs, in theory, can be accessed over the Internet. All the company needs are terminals to access the software and hardware at the off-site public cloud.
For example, with a subscription to Microsoft's public cloud, all of a companies employees, can have complete access to Microsoft;s vast data center and Microsoft's vast number of software products. With additional configurations a company can utilize Microsoft's Azure cloud as a supercomputer that will run massively complex and data intensive calculations that they could never do, in a practical manner, with an on-site private cloud. Furthermore, all of a company's files and data can be stored in Microsoft's cloud with relatively little risk that the data will be lost or broken into. Finally, all this can be done without a costly IT staff and without the need to consider the costs of on-site hardware and software upgrades.
The theory is great when it comes to the public cloud. Lower IT costs, access to the latest software instantly, worldwide company connectivity, and no more worries about company-wide hardware and software upgrades. In practice though, companies don't always want all their data and all their software on the cloud. There are also security issues, and laws and regulations when considering a public cloud. Furthermore, companies may have already made a substantial investment in their own private cloud. As well, its often not practical for employees to access software programs on the cloud over the Internet. It is often just much more convenient and efficient to keep the software on their own personal computer then access it over the cloud.
For those in this situation, a hybrid cloud is the solution. A hybrid cloud consists of an interconnected public cloud and private cloud. In a hybrid cloud architecture, a company uses its internal data center and IT staff to manage part of the companies IT needs and a public cloud, or for that matter several public clouds, for a different set of IT needs. Often though, a company can opt for a cloud architecture that interconnects a private cloud with a public cloud. In these cases, data files may be backed up in real time to a public cloud, offsetting the need for the IT staff to back-up their private cloud. Persistent data backup schemes make this task very efficient. A persistent data back-up scheme scheme doesn't back up all the data, but only the data that has changed. For example, in a persistent data scheme, only data files that had changed since the last backup are saved.
As time matches on, the idea of private clouds and even hybrid clouds may drift into just the concept of a public cloud. Startups for example, may just not have the motivation for establishing an in-house network complete with servers, routers and gateways and an expensive IT staff. If a public cloud provides the horsepower of a million computers, the ability to interconnect tens of thousands of employees, and data backup in a more and more reliable and trusted manner all without the need of costly IT staff, the risks and costs of a private cloud and even a hybrid cloud outweigh the risks and costs of a public cloud.
Private business clouds, swaths of interconnected servers and software and computers, were what many companies of the new millennia were built on. IT staffs in the early 2000s, built up on-site networks which connected the companies' computers together. They installed software on the servers for the employees to share, backed up data on the network to hard drives and tape drives, and developed software that glued the company' IT operations together and kept it running. As the company's IT needs grew, so did the complexity and problems of running the in-house network. Computer crashes, data thefts, and breakdowns on infrastructure software as well as the time to maintain that software all became bigger issues as well as IT costs. What once were small networks, grew into large networks that constantly needed hardware and software upgrades, which constantly needed larger IT budgets, new computers and new software, and higher levels of professional staff to maintain.
Public clouds today present a solution to the problems, costs and complexities of on-site private clouds. With a public cloud, a company no longer needs to have an on-site network and associated IT staff to support the companies IT network. With a public cloud, all hardware (hardware as a service, HAAS) and software (software as a service, SAAS) that a company needs, in theory, can be accessed over the Internet. All the company needs are terminals to access the software and hardware at the off-site public cloud.
For example, with a subscription to Microsoft's public cloud, all of a companies employees, can have complete access to Microsoft;s vast data center and Microsoft's vast number of software products. With additional configurations a company can utilize Microsoft's Azure cloud as a supercomputer that will run massively complex and data intensive calculations that they could never do, in a practical manner, with an on-site private cloud. Furthermore, all of a company's files and data can be stored in Microsoft's cloud with relatively little risk that the data will be lost or broken into. Finally, all this can be done without a costly IT staff and without the need to consider the costs of on-site hardware and software upgrades.
The theory is great when it comes to the public cloud. Lower IT costs, access to the latest software instantly, worldwide company connectivity, and no more worries about company-wide hardware and software upgrades. In practice though, companies don't always want all their data and all their software on the cloud. There are also security issues, and laws and regulations when considering a public cloud. Furthermore, companies may have already made a substantial investment in their own private cloud. As well, its often not practical for employees to access software programs on the cloud over the Internet. It is often just much more convenient and efficient to keep the software on their own personal computer then access it over the cloud.
For those in this situation, a hybrid cloud is the solution. A hybrid cloud consists of an interconnected public cloud and private cloud. In a hybrid cloud architecture, a company uses its internal data center and IT staff to manage part of the companies IT needs and a public cloud, or for that matter several public clouds, for a different set of IT needs. Often though, a company can opt for a cloud architecture that interconnects a private cloud with a public cloud. In these cases, data files may be backed up in real time to a public cloud, offsetting the need for the IT staff to back-up their private cloud. Persistent data backup schemes make this task very efficient. A persistent data back-up scheme scheme doesn't back up all the data, but only the data that has changed. For example, in a persistent data scheme, only data files that had changed since the last backup are saved.
As time matches on, the idea of private clouds and even hybrid clouds may drift into just the concept of a public cloud. Startups for example, may just not have the motivation for establishing an in-house network complete with servers, routers and gateways and an expensive IT staff. If a public cloud provides the horsepower of a million computers, the ability to interconnect tens of thousands of employees, and data backup in a more and more reliable and trusted manner all without the need of costly IT staff, the risks and costs of a private cloud and even a hybrid cloud outweigh the risks and costs of a public cloud.
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