Which Flavor of Cloud Computing Services Is Right For You?
Cloud computing. Co-location. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS). Oh My!
It's tough enough for executives like you to keep track of all the cloud options, let alone know which one will work best for your organization - if it all. In this article we'll break down the different cloud computing flavors and help you understand which cloud computing services that best match your specific business objectives.
There are three primary approaches to cloud computing: Platform-as-a-service, infrastructure-as-a-service and software-as-a-service. Let's consider each in more detail.
Platform-as-a-service
Under PaaS offerings, cloud computing providers deliver the hardware, network and operating system. You, the client, provides the application code to the cloud provider and runs the applications remotely.
Infrastructure-as-a-service
For IaaS, both hardware and network resources are delivered by cloud providers. Clients continue to control their own applications and operating systems. This can also be referred to as co-location.
Software-as-a-service
With SaaS, cloud providers control the hardware, network, operating system and select applications. Clients access the applications via the Internet.
Private, Public and Hybrid Clouds
Pricewaterhouse Coopers defines a private cloud as "the acquisition, provisioning, and management of data center resources in a hyper-efficient which emulates the leading practices of public cloud providers." Private clouds also have to contend with security and controls appropriate in specific enterprise environments.
Public and hybrid clouds are options for organizations that desire to extract the maximum efficiency and agility possible from a network infrastructure. As such, cloud service providers must deliver computing resources on-demand, where and wehn needed, thereby maximizing business agility and minimizing downtime.
Cloud computing implementation can drive several value propositions such as green IT, continuous uptime and availability, instant scale-ups (or scale-downs).
"What if I just don't want to think about IT anymore?"
If you're plain sick and tired of the vicious IT lifecycle, we suggest moving to a cloud computing provider that can offer a combined PaaS and IaaS model. Most of the time, all applications run inside the cloud hosted and managed by the provider. Whereas some cloud providers take responsibility for some portions of IT, look for a cloud provider that takes responsibility for problem determination and resolution. Period.
Before transitioning to a provider, be sure to provision metrics into the service legal agreement to help you gauge performance and security levels.
This post is an adapted excerpt from our free educational webinar, 6 Steps to Understanding Cloud Computing. To learn more about cloud computing and how to avoid the common risks, register for the webinar here.
