We have been doing a ton of testing with multiple cloud environments and figured it was time to address the issue with everyone again.
In case you missed the blog entry on cloud computing, I will fill you in on the term.
Cloud computing– Taking an application or entire OS and putting it on a set of servers, either hosted internally (internal cloud) or hosted on an external provider’s sever (external cloud). This provides a great deal of redundancy, scalability and fault tolerance.
Many offer this service (including Fuse) at a monthly fee, hence the buzz term software as a service.
The biggest benefit to cloud computing is the fact that usually you can get to that application or desktop from anywhere.
Pros:
1. Since all of the computing power is dependent on the cloud servers and not the PC, usually this will extend the life of your computer since it is not handling the processing of the tasks at hand.
2. Support fees are usually less, as all the support for the application or desktop is done on the back end of the cloud.
3. You can access the cloud from anywhere/any desktop.
Cons:
1. Usually these services have a monthly fee and if you have several monthly fees for several different applications the costs can stack up. Many of us view software or hardware as something you buy/own and are done with, but this changes that model and makes it on going overhead. However, in some cases it can definitely be worth the expense.
2. Not too many people love the idea of their company’s most precious information being stored outside of their facility, or with some company a thousand miles away.
3. Security: Just the other day, the headlines flew that China had hacked Google, now imagine if your company data was stored there, how would you feel? When one provider really gains momentum in the cloud game, they could become a target for hackers.
4. The Internet at your office goes out, you lose connection to EVERYTHING!
We currently have clients on our cloud program and have setup internal clouds for many; it can definitely be a good fit in certain situations. At Fuse, we not only know our clouds, but we are the masters of integrating our customers in other cloud environments.
