Member Article

What is cloud computing?

Andrew Robson, CEO of Perfect Image – a North East-based IT services company delivering tailored solutions and services to organisations across the UK, helping them to improve their businesses through the effective use of IT – discusses cloud computing, separating reality from the marketing hype, and how true cloud could benefit businesses.

We hear a lot about cloud computing technologies these days. A lot of services you see use the word ‘cloud’, but what really is cloud and what should you be looking for when considering using this technology as part of your IT infrastructure?

True cloud technologies are about the technology itself and how it’s provided commercially. A true cloud solution should be able to flex up and down to meet your requirements – all the way from nothing through to very significant amounts of computing and storage.

Not only this, it should be able to be scaled quickly, easily, and in many cases, automatically. One of the great things about true cloud technology is that it is pay-as-you-go, so at the end of each month you only pay for what you have used – no more, no less.

True cloud technology isn’t just virtualising your servers or moving your servers out to data centres rather than being in your office. This type of IT infrastructure may be right for your business, but it is not true cloud – just because you can’t see your server, doesn’t mean your IT infrastructure is in the cloud.

True cloud computing is really when you treat it as a utility service, like you might with electricity. You wouldn’t go out and buy your own generator - you just want the electricity when you want it, how you want it, and paying for what you use – and you can now do the same with cloud computing using a true cloud service.

So next time someone claims to be offering a cloud solution, you need to ask is it really offering you this kind of service.

Think:

· Do I really just pay for what I need;

· Can I flex it quickly and easily; and

· Is this offering the best possible value?

In reality, there are only a small handful of global suppliers that can provide a true cloud solution for you and at Perfect Image, we’re proud to work with the largest supplier in the world for this service - Amazon Web Services (AWS).

If you’d like to find out more about true cloud computing, watch this short video blog: http://blog.perfect-image.co.uk/what-is-true-cloud/

Image used under Flickr’s creative commons license. Credit: theaucitron

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Perfect Image .