by Stefani Laszko
According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology “cloud computing is a model for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, application and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.” Quite a mouthful, I know. Though the term “cloud computing” may be fairly new to you, it’s a concept that’s been around since the 1960’s and you are certainly already using it. Are you on Facebook? Do you have a Gmail, Hotmail or Yahoo email account? Heck, do you use the Internet? If you answered yes to any of those questions, you are already using cloud technologies.
So what does this mean for the small to medium size business owner? Much like other areas of technology, what was once only for enterprise level companies, cloud computing is now cost effective for the small to medium size business and it will bring you flexibility, availability and increased security. Three of the most common resources to virtualize (or take to the cloud) are servers, desktops and applications.
Server virtualization brings many new capabilities such as increased horsepower, disaster recovery, improved security, instant scalability and zero capital expenditure. By moving to a virtual cloud server infrastructure you gain the ability to upsize / downsize as your business needs dictate. By partnering with a hosted cloud services provider you will be virtualizing your server within a world class, highly available secure data center giving the highest level of disaster recovery capability and security available.
Desktop virtualization, which utilizes the same data center facilities as virtualized servers, allows you to squeeze every last penny invested in existing desktop equipment. Hosting your desktop in a virtual environment pushes the actual computer processing out to the cloud, leaving your physical desktop computer to act just as a keyboard, mouse and monitor for use on the virtualized desktop. New desktops can be deployed with very cost effective low-end PCs or thin clients.
Application virtualization allows you to easily scale third party or vertical applications into the cloud. No longer do you have to deploy separate physical servers for separate applications, cloud servers are able to be leveraged to deploy each application in its own “sandbox” securely and efficiently giving you enhanced resiliency and flexibility.
All in all, cloud technologies aren’t something new but instead are a better way of deploying what you already have or what you may need. Premise based technologies not only require significant capital expenditure, they are also based on yesterday’s technology practices. Leverage your cloud partner’s infrastructure to ramp up your capabilities as your business dictates. You don’t need an umbrella to join us in the cloud!
Mythos Technology is an IT consulting and management firm that provides Managed Services including hosted cloud solutions. For more information, please visit www.mythostech.com or call (951) 813-2672.