So, you’re a new business, searching for the most efficient way to store your data. You know that you and your business require the ability to virtually share data at any time from any place, but as the capabilities of the Internet continue to reach new heights in speed, reliability, and safety, you may find yourself in a bit of uncharted territory. All sorts of new storage terms are thrown about every day, such as dedicated servers, cloud computing, and virtualization. The many options for possible technology can seem overwhelming and attempting to decide what servers are best for you may feel completely foreign. That’s why we’ve put together a crash course about cloud computing and what it can do for you so that you can better decide if this system is right for your business.
A Short History of The Cloud
The Cloud first became popular in the 1990s, when Salesforce became the first company to offer software and applications over the Internet, as opposed to them only being accessible from certain machines. Suddenly, this new data-sharing, digital sphere became ubiquitous, as it was much easier to use than the technology that had come before it. During this time, hundreds of industries began utilizing the Cloud, including healthcare, finance, and government.
In the early 2000s, Amazon Web Services launched the Elastic Compute Cloud allowing people to rent their virtual computers, or cloud space, to create their own applications. This led to the creation of such services like Google Drive, Netflix, and Apple’s iCloud.
Soon after, the Cloud universe was split between two distinct types: the private Cloud and the public Cloud. Private clouds are essentially data servers that exist within a controlled system where more sensitive data is usually stored, whereas public clouds are computing services that are offered via the Internet to whoever would like to use them. Public clouds are significantly larger than private clouds.
The use of cloud computing has become ubiquitous in today’s world and is an excellent choice of data storage for any up-and-coming business.
What Is The Cloud?
So, we now have a better understanding of where the Cloud came from, but how does it work?
The colloquial term, “the Cloud” refers to a system of servers that are managed over the Internet that allows you to run multiple software and data programs at once. Cloud computing allows people to access the same files and applications from any device. This is because the server, which holds your potential data, is run from a data center, as opposed to one’s local device. The non-local server has the capability to hold massive amounts of information since is it essentially combines many different machines into one.
This process is made possible through the concept of “virtualization”. This essentially means that a virtual computer is created that acts like a physical computer with its own hardware. Cloud complexes are created when multiple virtual machines are combined onto one physical machine and can then be run independently from one another.
This makes it different from a dedicated server since a cloud server essentially can run multiple computers from one device.
Why Should I Use The Cloud?
The Cloud competes with local, or dedicated, servers in a variety of ways. Here are just a few ways in which a cloud server could be far superior to a slightly outdated dedicated server.
Cost
Cloud computing is far cheaper to use than a dedicated server would be. First of all, cloud services update as needed, so less money will be wasted on upgrades in machinery. When using a dedicated server, you are also unable to repair a server in the case of an internal failure without the help of high-level tech professionals. In addition, you could be paying for far more resources than your business will actually utilize. When buying a cloud server, you are only paying for what you will be using, nor do you require immediate help if there were to be a failure in the system.
Reliability
As we mentioned above, the Cloud has the ability to hold multiple servers on one machine. If one of your web pages within a server were to go down, another server within your Cloud would be able to take over the functions of that particular webpage. With the use of a dedicated server, a webpage failure could lead to issues within the server itself, which can be expensive to repair. In addition, it removes traffic from your business website, which could harm you financially.
Security
One concern that many businesses have when considering cloud computing is security. It is an understandable concern since valuable data will no longer be kept onsite. Though this would be the case, it is the job of cloud hosts to constantly monitor security on the servers that they’re in charge of. This is actually more efficient than an in-house server since an organization would need to divide its resources between security management and other IT concerns. In addition, more often than not, most breaches of security occur in-house, within the company itself. Having your data off-site might become an unforeseen saving grace.
There are many other reasons that cloud computing is far superior to other forms of data storage, but these three tend to be the most important to companies deciding between using their old server or investing in a new one. If cloud computing is exactly what your business needs, Elemental Technology Solutions is here to start the transition.
What Elemental Technology Solutions Can Do For You
Elemental Technology Solutions offers a full suite of cloud services that are completely customizable to fit your needs. Our package includes online data storage and backup solutions, web-based e-mail services, document collaboration services, database processing, and so much more!
We understand how important it is to be able to quickly and efficiently meet the demands of your customers and employees and are dedicated to helping your business navigate data storage far more nimbly than your competitors. In addition to our cloud services, we also offer managed IT, voice services, and device as a service to ensure that we can help as many businesses as possible with whatever they may need. If you are interested in our cloud services, or any other services that we offer, visit the Contact Us page on our website or email us at [email protected].
