Cloud Computing And What It Means To Your Business
Cloud computing is the buzzword that is being frequently discussed in the information technology circles for some years now.
The total market value of cloud computing is expected to exceed 241 billion by the year 2020.
What exactly is cloud computing and what does cloud computing mean for your business?
Cloud computing refers to off-site services that provide software, processing and file storage for your information technology needs.
The resources are provided as a metered service (pay-for-what-you-use) over the Internet.
The applications that are delivered over the Internet are accessed by end users via web browsers.
Data and software are usually stored in remote servers and are accessed when required.
Infinite storage is available without any hassle whatsoever. The hardware needs of the client are drastically reduced and so are pesky maintenance problems.
The staff requirement to maintain the IT department can be reduced to a minimum.
In totality, this facility allows for shared services, faster installation and use of applications, and businesses and companies have the convenience of scaling their IT resources according to demand.
For technology companies and start-up businesses cloud computing provides the advantages of installing cheap new IT services, helping to keep the start-up costs to a minimum.
The costs of setting up a web-based business is drastically different from what it was a few years ago. For a large business, utilization of such services have far reaching implications.
Capital investment can be drastically reduced. The operating expenditure is immensely scalable.
Though there are security concerns and other technical challenges that may accompany the shift, the overall savings in terms of time, effort, and money are worth the shift. It also provides a great opportunity for entrepreneurs to set up cloud-based software solutions sold as a service.
Security is an important issue to be addressed both by the company that provides cloud computing services and those that utilize the services. Many are not comfortable with entrusting business data to a third party.
However, end users would essentially would have to do this. Companies that offer cloud computing services offer data security through encrypted authentication.
Data needs to encrypted from point to point. The service providers need to install server farms and a superfast network bandwidth, and ensure high availability guarantees.
Cloud Computing services upgrade their software seamlessly. Many of the cloud computing services have introduced versioning procedures that enable businesses to go back to old files.
The main drawbacks of cloud computing are as follows:
• Security concerns that crop up on handing over your business data to a third party.
• If the cloud computing services go down, then your business is affected. However, experts are of the opinion that the costs are much less when compared to using desktop software.
• Cloud computing services charge for usage spikes which could lead to unpredictable costs.
The typical costs of cloud computing services stand at $0.100 per gigabyte, even less for reduced redundancy when your application is not critical, and $0.150 for high availability.
Using cloud computing services is thus a means of upscaling the IT needs of your business with minimum cost implications.
© Global World Tech
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Dec 29 2011
Posted: under Benefits of Cloud Computing, Cloud Computing, Gwt - GlobalWorldTech.
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