Cloud Computing

The demand for cloud computing has given rise to different types of cloud deployment models. These models are based on similar technology, but they differ in scalability, cost, performance, and privacy.

It is not always clear which cloud model is an ideal fit for a business. Decision-makers must factor in computing and business needs, and they need to know what different deployment types can offer.

Read on to learn about the five main cloud deployment models and find the best choice for your business.

What is Cloud Deployment?

Cloud deployment is the process of building a virtual computing environment. It typically involves the setup of one of the following platforms:

• SaaS (Software as a Service)
• PaaS (Platform as a Service)
• IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service)

Deploying to the cloud provides organizations with flexible and scalable virtual computing resources.

A cloud deployment model is the type of architecture a cloud system is implemented on. These models differ in terms of management, ownership, access control, and security protocols.

The five most popular cloud deployment models are public, private, virtual private (VPC), hybrid, and community cloud.

Comparison of Cloud Deployment Models

Here is a comparative table that provides an overview of all five cloud deployment models:

The following sections explain cloud deployment models in further detail.

Public Cloud

The public cloud model is the most widely used cloud service. This cloud type is a popular option for web applications, file sharing, and non-sensitive data storage.

The service provider owns and operates all the hardware needed to run a public cloud. Providers keep devices in massive data centers.

The public cloud deliverynmodel plays a vital role in development and testing. Developers often use public cloud infrastructure for development and testing purposes. Its virtual environment is cheap and can be configured easily and deployed quickly, making it perfect for test environments.

Advantages of Public Cloud

Benefits of the public cloud include:

• Low cost: Public cloud is the cheapest model on the market. Besides the small initial fee, clients only pay for the services they are using, so there is no unnecessary overhead.
• No hardware investment: Service providers fund the entire infrastructure.
• No infrastructure management: A client does not need a dedicated in-house team to make full use of a public cloud.

Disadvantages of Public Cloud

The public cloud does have some drawbacks:

• Security and privacy concerns: As anyone can ask for access, this model does not offer ideal protection against attacks. The size of public clouds also leads to vulnerabilities.
• Reliability: Public clouds are prone to outages and malfunctions.
• Poor customization: Public offerings have little to no customization. Clients can pick the operating system and the sizing of the VM (storage and processors), but they cannot customize ordering, reporting, or networking.
• Limited resources: Public clouds have incredible computing power, but you share the resources with other tenants. There is always a cap on how much resources you can use, leading to scalability issues.

Private Cloud

Whereas a public model is available to anyone, a private cloud belongs to a specific organization. That organization controls the system and manages it in a centralized fashion. While a third party (e.g., service provider) can host a private cloud server (a type of colocation), most companies choose to keep the hardware in their on-premises data center. From there, an in-house team can oversee and manage everything.

The private cloud deployment model is also known as the internal or corporate model.

Advantages of Private Cloud

Here are the main reasons why organizations are using a private cloud:

• Customization: Companies get to customize their solution per their requirements.
• Data privacy: Only authorized internal personnel can access data. Ideal for storing corporate data.
• Security: A company can separate sets of resources on the same infrastructure. Segmentation leads to high levels of security and access control.
• Full control: The owner controls the service integrations, IT operations, rules, and user practices. The organization is the exclusive owner.
• Legacy systems: This model supports legacy applications that cannot function on a public cloud.

Disadvantages of Private Cloud

• High cost: The main disadvantage of private cloud is its high cost. You need to invest in hardware and software, plus set aside resources for in-house staff and training.
• Fixed scalability: Scalability depends on your choice of the underlying hardware.
• High maintenance: Since a private cloud is managed in-house, it requires high maintenance.

Virtual Private Cloud (VPC)

A VPC customer has exclusive access to a segment of a public cloud. This deployment is a compromise between a private and a public model in terms of price and features.

Access to a virtual private platform is typically given through a secure connection (e.g., VPN). Access can also be restricted by the user’s physical location by employing firewalls and IP address whitelisting.

Advantages of Virtual Private Cloud

Here are the positives of VPCs:

• Cheaper than private clouds: A VPC does not cost nearly as much as a full-blown private solution.
• More well-rounded than a public cloud: A VPC has better flexibility, scalability, and security than what a public cloud provider can offer.
• Maintenance and performance: Less maintenance than in the private cloud, more security and performance than in the public cloud.

Disadvantages of Virtual Private Cloud

The main weaknesses of VPCs are:

• It is not a private cloud: While there is some versatility, a VPC is still very restrictive when it comes to customization.
• Typical public cloud problems: Outages and failures are commonplace in a VPC setup.

Community Cloud

The community cloud deployment model operates as a public cloud. The difference is that this system only allows access to a specific group of users with shared interests and use cases.

This type of cloud architecture can be hosted on-premises, at a peer organization, or by a third-party provider. A combination of all three is also an option.

Typically, all organizations in a community have the same security policies, application types, and legislative issues.

Advantages of Community Cloud

Here are the benefits of a community cloud solution:

• Cost reductions: A community cloud is cheaper than a private one, yet it offers comparable performance. Multiple companies share the bill, which additionally lowers the cost of these solutions.
• Setup benefits: Configuration and protocols within a community system meet the needs of a specific industry. A collaborative space also allows clients to enhance efficiency.

Disadvantages of Community Cloud

The main disadvantages of community cloud are:

• Shared resources: Limited storage and bandwidth capacity are common problems within community systems.
• Still uncommon: This is the latest deployment model of cloud computing. The trend is still catching on, so the community cloud is currently not an option in every industry.

Hybrid Cloud

A hybrid cloud is a combination of two or more infrastructures (private, community, VPC, public cloud, and dedicated servers). Every model within a hybrid is a separate system, but they are all a part of the same architecture.

A typical deployment model example of a hybrid solution is when a company stores critical data on a private cloud and less sensitive information on a public cloud. Another use case is when a portion of a firm’s data cannot legally be stored on a public cloud.

The hybrid cloud model is often used for cloud bursting. Cloud bursting allows an organization to run applications on-premises but “burst” into the public cloud in times of heavy load. It is an excellent option for organizations with versatile use cases.

Advantages of Hybrid Cloud

Here are the benefits of a hybrid cloud system:

• Cost-effectiveness: A hybrid solution lowers operational costs by using a public cloud for most workflows.
• Security: It is easier to protect a hybrid cloud from attackers due to segmented storage and workflows.
• Flexibility: This cloud model offers high levels of setup flexibility. Clients can create custom-made solutions that fit their needs entirely.

Disadvantages of Hybrid Cloud

The disadvantages of hybrid solutions are:

• Complexity: A hybrid cloud is complex to set up and manage as you combine two or more different cloud service models.
• Specific use case: A hybrid cloud makes sense only if an organization has versatile use cases or need to separate sensitive and non-sensitive data.

How to Choose Between Cloud Deployment Models

To choose the best cloud deployment model for your company, start by defining your requirements for:

• Scalability: Is your user activity growing? Does your system run into sudden spikes in demand?
• Ease of use: How skilled is your team? How much time and money are you willing to invest in staff training?
• Privacy: Are there strict privacy rules surrounding the data you collect?
• Security: Do you store any sensitive data that does not belong on a public server?
• Cost: How much resources can you spend on your cloud solution? How much capital can you pay upfront?
• Flexibility: How flexible (or rigid) are your computing, processing, and storage needs?
• Compliance: Are there any notable laws or regulations in your country or industry? Do you need to adhere to compliance standards?

Answers to these questions will help you pick between a public, private, virtual private, community, or hybrid cloud.

Typically, a public cloud is ideal for small and medium businesses, especially if they have limited demands. The larger the organization, the more sense a private cloud or Virtual Private Cloud starts to make.

For bigger businesses that wish to minimize costs, there are compromise options like VPCs and hybrids. If your niche has a community offering, that option is worth exploring.

Invest Wisely in Enterprise Cloud Computing Services

Each cloud deployment model offers a unique value to a business. Now that you have a strong understanding of every option on the market, you can make an informed decision and pick the one with the highest ROI.

If security is your top priority, learn more about Data Security Cloud, the safest cloud option on the market.

Infrastructure as Code (IaC) simplifies the process of managing virtualized cloud resources. With the introduction of cloud-native dedicated servers, it is now possible to deploy physical machines with the same level of flexibility.

phoenixNAP’s cloud-native dedicated server platform Bare Metal Cloud (BMC), was designed with IaC compatibility in mind. BMC is fully integrated with HashiCorp Terraform, one of the most widely used IaC tools in DevOps. This integration allows users to leverage a custom-built Terraform provider to deploy BMC servers in minutes with just a couple lines of code.

Why Infrastructure as Code?

Infrastructure as Code is a method of automating the process of deploying and managing cloud resources through human-readable configuration files. It plays a pivotal role in DevOps, where speed and agility are of the essence.

Before IaC, sys admins deployed everything by hand. Every server, database, load balancer, or network had to be configured manually. Teams now utilize various IaC engines to spin up or tear down hundreds of servers across multiple providers in minutes.

While there are many powerful IaC tools on the market, Terraform stands out as one of the most prominent players in the IaC field.

The Basics of Terraform

Terraform by HashiCorp is an infrastructure as code engine that allows DevOps teams to safely deploy, modify, and version cloud-native resources. Its open source tool is free to use, but most teams choose to use it with Terraform Cloud or Terraform Enterprise, which enable collaboration and governance.

To deploy with Terraform, developers define the desired resources in a configuration file, which is written in HashiCorp Configuration Language (HCL). Terraform then analyzes that file to create an execution plan. Once confirmed by the user, it executes the plan to provision precisely what was defined in the configuration file.

Terraform identifies differences between the desired state and the existing state of the infrastructure. This mechanism plays an essential role in a DevOps pipeline, where maintaining consistency across multiple environments is crucial.

Deploying Bare Metal Cloud Servers with Terraform

Terraform maintains a growing list of providers that support its software. Providers are custom-built plugins from various service providers that users initialize in their configuration files.

phoenixNAP has its own Terraform provider – pnap. Any Bare Metal Cloud user can use it to deploy and manage BMC servers without using the web-based Bare Metal Cloud Portal. The source code for the phoenixNAP provider and documentation is available on the official Terraform provider page.

Terraform Example Usage with Bare Metal Cloud

To start deploying BMC servers with Terraform, create a BMC account, and install Terraform on your local system or remote server. Before running Terraform, gather necessary authentication data and store it in the config.yaml file. You need the clientId and clientSecret, both of which can be found on your BMC account.

Once everything is set up, start defining your desired BMC resources. To do so, create a Terraform configuration file and declare that you want to use the pnap provider:

terraform {
  required_providers {
    pnap = {
          source = "phoenixnap/pnap"
          version = "0.6.0"
    }
  }
}

provider "pnap" {
  # Configuration options
}

The section reserved for configuration options should contain the description of the desired state of your BMC infrastructure.

To deploy the most basic Bare Metal Cloud server configuration, s1.c1.small, with an Ubuntu OS in the Phoenix data center:

resource "pnap_server" "My-First-BMC-Server" {
    hostname = "your-hostname"
    os = "ubuntu/bionic"
    type = "s1.c1.small"
    location = "PHX"
    ssh_keys = [
       "ssh-rsa..."
    ]
    #action = "powered-on"
}

The argument name action denotes power actions that can be performed on the server, and they include reboot, reset, powered-on, powered-off, shutdown. While all argument names must contain corresponding values, the action argument does not need to be defined.

To deploy this Bare Metal Cloud instance, run the terraform init CLI command to instruct Terraform to begin the initialization process.

Your Terraform configurations should be stored in a file with a .tf extension. While Terraform uses a domain-specific language for defining configurations, users can also write configuration files in JSON. In that case, the file extension needs to be .tf.json.

Benefits of Using Terraform with Bare Metal Cloud

All Terraform configuration files are reusable, scalable, and can be versioned for easier team collaboration on BMC provisioning schemes.

Whether you need to deploy one or hundreds of servers, Terraform and BMC will make it happen. There are no limits to how many servers you can define in your configuration files. You can also use other providers alongside phoenixNAP.

For easier management of complex setups, Terraform has a feature called modules — containers that allow you to define the architecture of your environment in an abstract way. Modules are reusable chunks of code that can call other modules that contain one or more infrastructure objects.

Collaborating on BMC Configurations with Terraform Cloud

Once you’ve learned how to write and provision Terraform configurations, you’ll want to set up a method that allows your entire DevOps team to work more efficiently on deploying new and modifying existing BMC resources.

You can store Terraform configuration in a version control system and run them remotely from Terraform Cloud for free. This helps you reduce the chance of deploying misconfigured resources, improves oversight, and ensures every change is executed reliably from the cloud.

You can also leverage Terraform Cloud’s remote state storage. Terraform state files map Terraform configurations with resources deployed in the real world. Using Terraform Cloud to store state files ensures your team is always on the same page.

Another great advantage of Terraform is that all configuration files are reusable. This makes replicating the same environment multiple times extremely easy. By maintaining consistency across multiple environments, teams can deliver quality code to production faster and safer.

Automate Your Infrastructure

This article gave you a broad overview of how to leverage Terraform’s flexibility to interact with your Bare Metal Cloud resources programmatically. By using the phoenixNAP Terraform provider and Terraform Cloud, you can quickly deploy, configure, and decommission multiple BMC instances with just a couple of lines of code.

This automated approach to infrastructure provisioning improves the speed and agility of DevOps workflows. BMC, in combination with Terraform Cloud, allows teams to focus on building software rather than wasting time waiting around for their dedicated servers to be provisioned manually.

Much has changed since organizations valued on-premise infrastructure as the best option for their applications. Nowadays, most companies are moving towards off-premise possibilities such as cloud and colocation.

Forrester Inc. reports that Global spending on Cloud services has exponentially increased from $17 billion in 2009 to $208 billion in 2019, growing at an increasing rate, especially in the last five years.

Before a company decides to switch to cloud computing technology, they need to understand both options’ pros and cons.

To decide which solution is best for your business, make sure you understand what on-premise and cloud computing are and how they work.

What is On-Premise Hosting?

On-premise is the traditional approach in which all the required software and infrastructure for a given application reside in-house. On a larger scale, this could mean the business hosts its own data center on-site.

Running applications on-site includes buying and maintaining in-house servers and infrastructure. Apart from physical space, this solution demands a dedicated IT staff qualified to maintain and monitor servers and their security.

What is Cloud Computing?

Cloud computing is an umbrella term that refers to computing services via the internet. By definition, it is a platform that allows the delivery of applications and services. These services include computing, storage, database, monitoring, security, networking, analytics, and other related operations.

The key characteristic of cloud computing is that you pay for what you use. The cloud service provider also takes care of maintaining its network architecture, giving you the freedom to focus on your application.

Most cloud providers offer much better infrastructure and services than what organizations set up individually. Renting rack space in a data center costs only a fraction of what it would to set up and maintain the in-house infrastructure at such a scale. Also, there are considerable savings on technical staff, upgrades, and licenses.

On-Premise vs. Cloud Comparison

There is no clear winner between on-premise vs. cloud computing solutions that cover all business purposes.

Both on-site and Cloud deal with performance, cost, security, compliance, backups, and disaster recovery differently.

A closer look at the major factors will help you decide which one is best for you.

1. Cost

The core difference between on-premise vs. cloud computing is also the very reason for their contrasting pricing models.

With on-premise, the client uses in-house dedicated servers. Therefore, obtaining them requires a considerable upfront investment that includes buying servers, licensing software, and hiring a maintenance team. Additionally, in-house infrastructure is not as flexible when it comes to scaling resources. Not using the full potential of the setup results in unwanted operating costs.

Cloud computing has little to no upfront costs. The infrastructure belongs to the provider, while the client only pays for using the devices on a monthly or annual basis. This is known as the pay-as-you-go model where you only pay for the units you consume and only for the time used. Cloud computing also doesn’t require the cost of investing in a technical team. If not agreed upon otherwise, the provider takes care of maintenance.

2. Technical Involvement

Another critical factor that affects an organization’s decision is the amount of technical involvement required.

On-premise involves on-location physical resources, as well as on-location staff that is responsible for that infrastructure. It requires full technical involvement in configuring and maintaining servers by a team of experts. Employing people devoted to ensuring your infrastructure is secure and efficient is very costly.

Cloud solutions are usually fully managed by the provider. They require minimum technical expertise from the client. However, service providers allow a certain amount of flexibility in this regard. Outsourcing maintenance allows you to focus on other business aspects. Still, not all companies are willing to hand over their infrastructure and data.

3. Scalability

Modern applications are continually evolving due to ever-increasing demand and user requirements. Infrastructure has to be flexible and scalable so that the user experience does not suffer.

On-premise offers little flexibility in this respect because physical servers are in use. If you run your operations on-site, resource scaling requires buying and deploying new servers. There are just a few cases where scaling is possible. A few involve controlling the number of active processors per server, increasing memory, and increasing bandwidth.

Cloud Computing offers superior scalability options. These include resizing server resources, bandwidth, and internet usage. For cost-saving purposes, Cloud servers are scaled down or shut down when usage is low. This flexibility is possible due to the servers’ virtual location and resources, which are increased or decreased conveniently. Cloud resources are administered through an admin panel or API.

4. Cloud vs On-Premise Security and Compliance

Compliance and security are the most critical aspects of both on-premise and cloud computing. It is the most significant barrier to the adoption of these services. Current providers have made many innovations in securing their platforms across both on-premise and Cloud.

For example, the introduction of Private Cloud was a significant step towards achieving greater security in the Cloud.

Owners of in-house infrastructure manage all the security by themselves. They are responsible for the policies they adopt and the type of security they implement. Therefore, the level of security depends on the knowledge of the staff that manages the servers. Furthermore, there is less chance of losing data.

Security becomes more critical with Cloud computing workloads. Client applications and data can spread across many servers or even data centers. The provider ensures Cloud security, including physical security. Providers should provide security measures like biometric access control, strict visiting policies, screening clients, and CCTV monitoring. These add another layer of protection in case of a physical attack.

Certain countries and industries require data storage within a particular geographic region. Others require a dedicated server that is owned by the client and not shared with other organizations. In such cases, it becomes easier to manage with on-premise.

It is crucial to ensure that the security protocols that are in place by the provider satisfy your needs. That may include HIPAA compliance or PCI compliant hosting.

5. Control

Another deciding factor is considering how much control do you need to have in setting up the system.

On-premises allows control over all aspects of the build – what kind of servers you want to use, software installations, and how to set up the architecture. It requires more time to set up as you have to consider all aspects of the build.

In contrast, with Cloud computing, there is less control of the underlying infrastructure. Consequently, implementation is much faster and more straightforward as the infrastructure is delivered pre-configured.

Making the Decision

This article considered the critical factors of on-premise versus cloud solutions. Each organization must look into its architecture and make application-specific decisions, giving each application individual assessments.

To sum up, the benefits for the adoption of off-premise infrastructures include:

• Improved security with many fail-safes and guarantees
• Compliance with regulatory policies
• Cost-savings due to economies of scale
• Reduction of overhead costs
• Better performance through geo-location optimization
• Higher availability

The decision to colocate can, later on, develop into a full cloud migration where Cloud computing is implemented for scaling and rapid expansion. The reverse is also possible. Organizations using Cloud services can decide to migrate to dedicated servers at a secure data center.

To get help with your decision-making process, contact one of our experts today.

The advancement of virtualization technology has made Cloud Computing an integral part of every industry. Cloud computing has four well-known flavors: Public, Private, Hybrid, and Bare Metal Cloud.

The “Community Cloud” concept is new and falls somewhere between Public and Private Cloud.

What is a Community Cloud?

Community Cloud is a hybrid form of private cloud. They are multi-tenant platforms that enable different organizations to work on a shared platform.

The purpose of this concept is to allow multiple customers to work on joint projects and applications that belong to the community, where it is necessary to have a centralized cloud infrastructure. In other words, Community Cloud is a distributed infrastructure that solves the specific issues of business sectors by integrating the services provided by different types of cloud solutions.

The communities involved in these projects, such as tenders, business organizations, and research companies, focus on similar issues in their cloud interactions. Their shared interests may include concepts and policies related to security and compliance considerations, and the goals of the project as well.

Community Cloud computing facilitates its users to identify and analyze their business demands better. Community Cloud may be hosted in a data center, owned by one of the tenants, or by a third-party cloud services provider and can be either on-site or off-site.

Community Cloud Examples and Use Cases

Cloud providers have developed Community Cloud offerings, and some organizations are already seeing the benefits. The following list shows some of the main scenarios of the Community Cloud model that is beneficial to the participating organizations.

• Multiple governmental departments that perform transactions with one another can have their processing systems on shared infrastructure. This setup makes it cost-effective to the tenants, and can also reduce their data traffic.
• Federal agencies in the United States. Government entities in the U.S. that share similar requirements related to security levels, audit, and privacy can use Community Cloud. As it is community-based, users are confident enough to invest in the platform for their projects.

• Multiple companies may need a particular system or application hosted on cloud services. The cloud provider can allow various users to connect to the same environment and segment their sessions logically. Such a setup removes the need to have separate servers for each client who has the same intentions.
• Agencies can use this model to test applications with high-end security needs rather than using a Public Cloud. Given the regulatory measures associated with Community Clouds, this could be an opportunity to test features of a Public Cloud offering.

Benefits of Community Clouds

Community Cloud provides benefits to organizations in the community, individually as well as collectively. Organizations do not have to worry about the security concerns linked with Public Cloud because of the closed user group.

This recent cloud computing model has great potential for businesses seeking cost-effective cloud services to collaborate on joint projects, as it comes with multiple advantages.

Openness and Impartiality

Community Clouds are open systems, and they remove the dependency organizations have on cloud service providers. Organizations can achieve many benefits while avoiding the disadvantages of both public and private clouds.

Flexibility and Scalability

• Ensures compatibility among each of its users, allowing them to modify properties according to their individual use cases. They also enable companies to interact with their remote employees and support the use of different devices, be it a smartphone or a tablet. This makes this type of cloud solution more flexible to users’ demands.
• Consists of a community of users and, as such, is scalable in different aspects such as hardware resources, services, and manpower. It takes into account demand growth, and you only have to increase the user-base.

High Availability and Reliability

Your cloud service must be able to ensure the availability of data and applications at all times. Community Clouds secure your data in the same way as any other cloud service, by replicating data and applications in multiple secure locations to protect them from unforeseen circumstances.

Cloud possesses redundant infrastructure to make sure data is available whenever and wherever you need it. High availability and reliability are critical concerns for any type of cloud solution.

Security and Compliance

Two significant concerns discussed when organizations rely on cloud computing are data security and compliance with relevant regulatory authorities. Compromising each other’s data security is not profitable to anyone in a Community Cloud.

Users can configure various levels of security for their data. Common use cases:

• The ability to block users from editing and downloading specific datasets.
• Making sensitive data subject to strict regulations on who has access to Sharing sensitive data unique to a particular organization would bring harm to all the members involved.
• What devices can store sensitive data.

Convenience and Control

Conflicts related to convenience and control do not arise in a Community Cloud. Democracy is a crucial factor the Community Cloud offers as all tenants share and own the infrastructure and make decisions collaboratively. This setup allows organizations to have their data closer to them while avoiding the complexities of a Private Cloud.

Less Work for the IT Department

Having data, applications, and systems in the cloud means that you do not have to manage them entirely. This convenience eliminates the need for tenants to employ extra human resources to manage the system. Even in a self-managed solution, the work is divided among the participating organizations.

Environment Sustainability

In the Community Cloud, organizations use a single platform for all their needs, which dissuades them from investing in separate cloud facilities. This shift introduces a symbiotic relationship between broadening and shrinking the use of cloud among clients. With the reduction of organizations using different clouds, resources are used more efficiently, thus leading to a smaller carbon footprint.

In addition to the direct benefits, it helps users avoid most of the disadvantages of Private and Public Cloud solutions. They allow users to avoid the higher cost of private clouds and the uncertainty of Public Clouds.

Community Cloud Challenges

The biggest concerns regarding Community Cloud are cloud security considerations and trust. No standard cloud model exists for defining best practices and identifying security liabilities of the data and applications which would reside on these servers. Since this type of cloud is relatively new and still evolving, users may hesitate to go into the whole dilemma of abandoning the current approach.

Security Considerations

Multiple organizations will access and control the infrastructure in a Community Cloud, requiring specialized security configurations:

• Every participant in the community has authorized access to the data. Therefore, organizations must make sure they do not share restricted data.
• Rules and regulations related to compliance within a Community Cloud can be confusing. The systems of one organization may have to adhere to the rules and regulations of other organizations involved in the community as well.
• Agreements among the member organizations in a Community Cloud are vital. For example, just because all the organizations have shared access to audit logs does not mean that every organization has to go through them. Having an agreement on who performs such tasks will not only save time and workforce needs but also help to avoid ambiguity.

The security concerns regarding Community Clouds are not unique to them but apply to any other type of Public Cloud as well. As such, it is safe to say that Community Cloud solutions offer a unique opportunity to organizations that wish to work on joint projects.

What to Consider Before Adopting a Community Cloud Approach

Community Clouds address industry-specific requirements while delivering the cost-effectiveness of a Public cloud. So the answer to the question “What is a Community Cloud” will depend on the individual needs of the collaborating organizations.

If you are looking for a cost-effective approach which deals with fewer complexities in a cloud environment, and at the same time ensures the security of your applications, Community Cloud computing is the way to go.

However, there are certain things that you should clarify before moving on to this model:

• The economic model of the cloud offering concerning the payments of the maintenance and capitals costs
• Availability and Service Level Agreements (SLA)
• How tenants handle security issues and regulations when sharing data among participating organizations
• Service Outage information

There is no guarantee as to whether this model of Cloud Computing will be as popular as Public Cloud. The beauty of the Community Cloud model is that it can cater to the needs of a specific group of users.

However, it is promising to see that cloud computing is expanding as technology evolves, and will continue to facilitate users with the best service models and infrastructure available. The emergence of new solutions, such as Community Cloud and Bare Metal Cloud, will find its place on the market.

If you are still unsure whether Cloud is the right platform for your organization, read our head-to-head comparison article – Colocation vs Cloud.

Cloud Computing is one of the most implemented methods for developing and delivering enterprise applications currently. It is also the most opted solution for the ever-expanding needs of SMEs and large scale enterprises alike.

As businesses grow and their process technologies improve, there is a growing trend towards companies migrating to the cloud. This process of moving services and applications to the cloud is the basic definition of Cloud Migration. The enthusiasm that companies have towards cloud migration is evident in the massive amounts of money and resources they dedicate to improve their operations.

In this article, we will introduce Cloud Migration processes and different ways of adapting to your organizational structure.

What is Cloud Computing?

Before tackling the question of “What is Cloud Migration?” let’s define Cloud Computing.

Cloud Computing is an enhanced IT service model that provides services over the Internet. Scalable and virtual resources like servers, data storage, networking, and software are just examples of these services. Cloud computing can also mean running workloads in a provider’s powerful data centers and on servers for a price.

Cloud Computing is considered one of the cutting edge technologies of the 21st century. Its innovative ability to provide relatively inexpensive and convenient networking and processing resources has fueled wide-ranging adaptation in the computing world.

The Cloud Migration process is an inevitable outcome of Cloud Computing. It has revolutionized the business world by facilitating easy access to data and software through any IoT (internet-connected) device. Moreover, it facilitates parts of the SDLC (Software Development Life Cycle), such as development and testing, without considering physical infrastructure.

What is Cloud Migration?

Cloud Migration is simply the adoption of cloud computing. It is the process of transferring data, application code, and other technology-related business processes from an on-premise or legacy infrastructure to the cloud environment.

Cloud Migration is a phenomenal transformation in the business information system domain as it provides adequate services for the growing needs of businesses. However, moving data to the cloud requires preparation and planning in deciding on an approach.

The other use-case for Cloud Migration is cloud to cloud transfer.

Types of Cloud Migration

The process of Cloud Migration creates a great deal of concern in the business and corporate world who have to prepare for many contingencies that come along with it. The type and degree of migration may differ from one organization to another. While certain organizations may opt for a complete migration, others may do so in part while others remain on-premises. Some process-heavy organizations may require more than one cloud service.

In addition to the degree of adoption, other parameters categorize Cloud Migration. These are some of the more commonly seen use-cases.

Lift and Shift

This process involves moving software from on-premise resources to the cloud without any changes in the application or a process used before. It is the fastest type of cloud migration available and involves fewer work disruptions since it involves only infrastructure, information, and security teams. Furthermore, it is more cost-effective compared to other methods available.

The only downside to this method is that it does not maximize the advantages of the performance and the cloud’s versatility as it involves only moving the application to a new location. Therefore it’s more suitable for companies with regular peak schedules and who follow market trends. Consider it as a first step in the adoption of the Cloud Migration process.

The Shift to SaaS

This method involves outsourcing one or more preferred applications to a specialized cloud service provider. Through this model, businesses can off-load less business-critical processes and be more focused on their core applications. This setup will lead to them becoming more streamlined and competitive.

While this method provides the ability to personalize your application, it sometimes can cause problems in the support model provided by the SaaS (Software-as-a-service) platform. It’s risky enough that you could lose some competitive edge in your industry. This method is more suitable for non-customer facing applications and routine functionalities such as email and payroll.

Legacy Application Refactoring

Cloud migration processes allow companies to replicate their legacy applications completely into the cloud platform by refactoring them. In this way, you can allow legacy applications to function and concurrently build new applications to replace the old ones on the cloud.

Refactoring lets you prioritize business processes by moving less critical ones to the cloud, first. This method is cost-effective, improves response time, and helps in prioritizing updates for better interactions.

Re-platforming

Re-platforming is a cloud migration process that involves replacing the application code to make it cloud-native. This process is the most resource-intensive type of migration, as it requires a lot of planning.

Completely rewriting business processes can also be quite costly. Nonetheless, this is the migration method that allows for total flexibility and brings you all the benefits of the cloud to its fullest extent.

The Cloud Migration Process

This process is how an organization achieves Cloud Migration. These cloud migration steps depend entirely on the specific resource that the organization is planning to move to the cloud and the type of migration performed.

Here are the five main stages of the process:

Step 1. Create a Cloud Migration Strategy

This step is the most important part of the process. It’s where you create your cloud migration plan and identify the specifics of the migration. You will need to understand the data, technical, financial, resource, and security requirements and decide on the necessary operations for the migration.

Expert consultation is also recommended during this stage to ensure successful planning. Identifying potential risks and failure points is another important part of this stage of the process. Mitigation actions or plans for resolutions will also need to be put in place to ensure business continuity.

Step 2. Selecting a Cloud Deployment Model

While part of this stage is related to the first one, you must choose the best-suited cloud deployment model considering both the organization and the resources at hand. A single or multi-cloud solution will need to be planned based on the types of resources that are required. If you are a small or medium scale organization with minimal resources, the public cloud is the recommended option.

If your organization uses a SaaS application but needs extra layers like security for application data, a Hybrid Cloud architecture will be better suited to your needs. Private Cloud solutions are perfect for sensitive data, and instances when full control over the system is essential.

Step 3. Selecting your Service Model

In this stage, you can decide on the different service models necessary for each of your business operations. The available service models are IaaS (Infrastructure-as-a-service), PaaS (Platform-as-a-service), and SaaS (Software-as-a-service). The difference in choices relates to the type of migration planned, as each one requires a different type of service.

Step 4. Define KPIs

Defining KPIs will ensure that you can monitor the migrated application within the cloud environment. These KPIs may include system performance, user experience, and infrastructure availability.

Step 5. Moving to the Cloud

You can adopt many different methods to move data from your infrastructure to the cloud. This move may be using the public Internet, a private network connection, or offline data transfer. Once all data and processes are moved, and the migration is complete, make sure that all requirements are fulfilled based on the pre-defined KPIs.

What is Cloud Migration Strategy?

A cloud migration strategy is the process of planning and preparation an organization conducts to move its data from on-premises to the cloud.

Cloud migration comes with many different advantages and business solutions, but moving to a cloud platform may be easier said than done. You must take into consideration several factors before initiating the migration process. And you may likely face many challenges both during the strategy development stage and during the actual migration process.

To address the above issues and to ensure a smooth and seamless migration process, you should develop cloud migration strategies which consider all these factors, including risk evaluation, disaster management, and in-depth business and technology analysis.

Get free advice in our Cloud Migration Checklist for an in-depth understanding of how to get started.

Benefits of Cloud Migration

Businesses tend to spend quite a lot when it comes to software development and deployment. But cloud migration offers a variety of methods to choose from, and they can be used to access SaaS at a much lower cost while safely storing and sharing data.

Cloud migration benefits include:

Cost Saving

Maintaining and managing a physical data center can be costly. But cloud migration allows curtailing operational expenses since cloud service providers like SaaS or even PaaS takes care of maintenance and upgrades of these data centers for a minimal upfront cost.

In addition to the direct cost savings in comparison to maintaining your own data centers, cloud migration provides indirect benefits for cost savings in the form of not requiring a dedicated technical team. Another benefit is that most licensing requirements are taken care of by the service provider.

Flexibility

Cloud migration facilitates upward or downward business expansions based on its necessities. Small scale businesses can easily scale up their processes into new territories, and large scale businesses can expand their services to an international audience through cloud migration.

This flexibility is possible in terms of expanding horizontally through globally distributed data centers as well through integrating hybrid cloud solutions such as AI, Machine Learning (ML), and image processing.

It also provides the ability for users to access data and services easily from anywhere and on any device. And companies can outsource certain functionalities to service providers so they can focus more on their main processes.

Quality Performance

Cloud migration allows for maintaining better interactions and communications within business communities due to the higher visibility of data. It also facilitates quick decision making since it reduces the time spent on infrastructure. Organizations can extend their ability to integrate different cloud-based solutions with other enterprise systems and solutions. This capability, in turn, ensures the quality and performance of the systems.

Automatic Updates

Updating systems can be a tedious task, especially for large scale companies, as they can require prolonged analysis. With Cloud migration, companies no longer need to worry about this as the infrastructure is off-premises, and cloud service providers are likely to take care of automatic updates. Ready-to-go software updates are part of most cloud computing plans and are available at a fraction of the cost of usual licensing fees.

Enhanced Security

Many studies have proven that data stored in a cloud environment is more secure compared to data in on-premise data centers. Cloud vendors are experts in data security and secure data proactively by updating their mechanisms regularly. Moreover, the cloud offers better control over data accessibility and availability, allowing only authorized users access to data.

Ensuring Business Continuity

Businesses often need to set up additional resources for disaster recovery. Cloud migration provides smart and inexpensive disaster management solutions. It ensures that applications are functional and available even during and after critical incidents, ensuring business continuity.

Cloud service providers take serious care of their data centers and ensure that they are protected both virtually and physically. This security, along with the availability of geographically dispersed locations, makes it convenient to set up robust Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity plans.

Cloud Migration Tools and Services

Many commercially available tools assist in the planning and execution of a cloud migration strategy. Some well-known cloud migration services include Google, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Microsoft Azure. They provide services for public cloud data transfer, private networks, and offline transactions.

They also come with tools to plan and track the progress of the migration process, completed by collecting the system’s on-premise data such as system dependencies. Some examples of migration services include Google Cloud Data Transfer Service, AWS Migration Hub, AWS Snowball, and Azure Migrate. Additionally, there are third-party vendors like Racemi, RiverMeadow, and CloudVelox. When choosing a tool, it is better to consider factors like functionality, compatibility, and price.

Migration tools can be categorized into three main types as follows:

• Open Source – These are free or low-cost tools that can be easily customized.
• Batch Processing Tools – These are the tools used when large amounts of data need processing at regular intervals.
• Cloud-based Tools – These are task-specific tools that bind data and cloud with connectors and toolsets.

Is Moving To The Cloud Right For Your Business?

Taking all this into account, you can now finally decide if Cloud Migration is an option for your organization. If so, the next decision will be which migration model to adopt, and how to plan the migration process.

Each migration is unique, so your plan will also need to be tailor-made. Find out and understand the requirements of your organization and applications to create a cloud migration methodology accordingly and move forward with the plan.

Discover the benefits of cloud computing for business with our cloud services.

Over the past few years, we have seen a dramatic increase in the number of Cloud-based services, especially in the tech industry. IT professionals spend a lot of time managing, purchasing, administering, and upgrading IT services, often distracting them from the mission-critical objectives of their organization. It is one of the primary reasons why many IT departments are shifting towards cloud technology to transform and simplify their in-house operations.

The term “cloud computing” includes a range of types, classifications, and architectural models with three major categories called Public, Private, and Hybrid Cloud. Under these categories, both the service technology and the underlying infrastructure can take various forms, such as Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a service (PaaS), or virtualized, hyper-converged, and software-defined models.

This article presents a comparison between the two most popular models, Public Clouds and Private Clouds.

What is a Private Cloud?

A private cloud focuses mainly on virtualization, making it possible to separate the IT services and resources from physical devices. Applications are available virtually on the cloud, as they do not run locally on servers or end devices. It is an ideal solution for companies that deal with strict data processing and security requirements. It allocates services according to the client’s needs, which makes Private Cloud a more flexible option.

For security, a firewall protects the private cloud from any unauthorized external access, and only authorized users can access private cloud applications either through closed Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) or through the client organization’s intranet. The Cloud service providers give users the necessary authentication rights to access the services.

How Does it Work?

A private cloud is set up to meet one organization’s goals and needs in a single-tenant environment. This means that only one company (tenant) uses it and does not have to share any other users’ resources. You can host and manage these resources in several ways.

Private clouds can have infrastructure and resources based on-premises in a company’s data center. Or they can be set up on an external infrastructure leased from a third-party cloud service provider. Thus an organization, third party, or a combination of both can own or manage a private cloud, and it can exist on or off-premises or in combination.

It needs an operating system to function. You can stack different software types such as virtualization and container software to determine how the private cloud will function or be deployed. It’s not as simple as tacking on a hypervisor to a server. Virtualization software enables single-tenant environments to pool and allocate resources. It allows companies to self-service, letting them scale resources up or down as requirements change, and it’s these qualities define a private cloud environment.

What is Public Cloud?

A Public Cloud Model involves delivering IT services directly to the client across the internet. The service is either free, premium-based, or subscription-based, based on the volume of computing resources a client consumes.

Public Cloud Vendors are generally responsible for managing, maintaining, and developing the pool of computing resources shared between multiple clients. One of the defining aspects of Public Cloud solutions includes its high scalability and elasticity.

Public Clouds are an affordable option that provides vast choices when it comes to the offered solutions, and the computing resources, based on the organizational requirements of the client.

How Does it Work?

A Public Cloud consists of a multitude of servers, connected to a central server. A central server is responsible for controlling the network through an intermediary program. This middleware enables communication between all the participating devices in the system. A central server is mainly responsible for distributing tasks, previously defined in protocols.

Users in a public cloud connect directly through the internet. They access a web-based user interface after setting up their accounts. Thus, such interfaces can accommodate every requirement. It ranges from individual applications to massive infrastructures. Providers also manage the backend and provide hardware such as data storage devices and computers.

Advantages of Public Cloud for Businesses

Public Cloud technology has almost become an essential cornerstone of the worldwide effort behind digitization. Implementing this technology can provide some fantastic benefits to organizations, such as:

• Costs According to requirements: Public Clouds offer each customer with their access to the cloud, allowing them to book individual services according to their organizational needs. They do not require any long-term licenses. Instead, users can rent on a package basis for all their employees, and billing is according to demand. As a result, services are more flexible, allowing users to increase server capabilities if required temporarily.
• Scalability: Clients can easily prevent downtime due to overloading caused by high traffic levels. They can increase their resources. Consequently, they can reduce the volume or support if it’s not required anymore.
• Economic: Public Cloud technology requires much less hardware compared to its private counterpart. Thus, it is mainly due to data centers on the provider’s site. Any additional software required by clients is available in the required scope. You do not have to buy any other software solutions and packages.
• Reduced complexity: Public Clouds do not require much IT expertise to handle the infrastructure from the client’s end. The Cloud vendor, instead, is responsible for managing the infrastructure.
• Focusing on core competencies: Public Clouds provide cost agility, allowing organizations to follow their growth strategies, focusing their energy and resources towards innovation.

Advantages of Private Cloud for Businesses

Large companies tend to use public cloud technology as their data computing, storage, and security requirements evolve. Private Clouds provide some critical advantages mentioned below

• Flexibility: Private Cloud solutions allow users to access their cloud from any location through the internet directly.
• Cutting Personnel Costs: Private Cloud technology requires much less workforce and personnel. The provider is responsible for the operation and maintenance activities.
• Investment: Users do not have to invest in server hardware.
• Allows Customization: Cloud applications in a private cloud have provisions for customization based on the client company’s requirements.
• Infrastructure: Private Clouds provide room for increased infrastructure capacity. Thus, it is ideal for companies that have major computing and storage requirements.
• Features: Private clouds provide their users with several cloud performance and bandwidth monitoring tools.

Which Cloud Model to Choose?

Public and Private Cloud technologies offer companies advantages in several different ways. The final choice will be based on a collection of factors, limitations, and use-cases.

Public clouds are ideal for companies with predictable computing needs, like in communication services. They are also suitable for services and applications which perform various IT and business operations.

Private clouds are ideal for companies that operate in either government agencies or other highly regulated industries. Large technology companies that work with critical and personal data and require advanced data center technologies go for private cloud solutions.

Some organizations leverage all types of cloud solutions, including hybrid clouds, combining them to create a viable, flexible, and updated solution.

Do your due diligence first. Make a well-informed decision by considering the differences and limitations of each and your requirements. Need help finding out what’s right for you? Contact us today to get started on your journey to the cloud.

Cloud technology has opened up new possibilities for public, private, and hybrid clouds. Many organizations are migrating to the hybrid cloud to get the most out of cloud computing.

A hybrid cloud provides flexibility and the freedom to balance their investing needs between on-premises cloud technologies and off-premises public cloud services instead of choosing either-or.

What is Hybrid Cloud?

Hybrid cloud infrastructure is an IT architecture that incorporates a degree of management and workload portability across two or more environments. The hybrid cloud environment combines private cloud and third-party, public cloud services with on-premises, with orchestration between all platforms. A Hybrid cloud is a cloud computing solution that integrates public cloud services with a private cloud, enabling data, storage, and apps to be shared across each service.

Hybrid cloud technology combines the best attributes of both Public and Private Clouds, fulfilling some common and essential functions including:

• Consolidating IT resources
• Workload portability between different environments
• Connecting multiple computers through a single network
• Quick scaling out and provisioning of new resources
• Incorporating a comprehensive, unified management tool
• Using automation to orchestrate different processes
• Implementing disaster recovery strategies

How Does Hybrid Cloud Architecture Work?

A hybrid cloud framework consists of separate clouds that are connected seamlessly with a high level of interconnectivity. This configuration allows for workloads to be moved, management to be unified, and processes to be comprehensively executed.

The Architecture of the Hybrid Cloud involves three significant steps:

1. Multiple computers or devices are connected by using either a local area network or LAN, a wide area network or WAN, or a virtual private network or VPN, along with an application programming interface.
2. Resources are allocated via virtualization, software-defined storage abstracts as well as containers. They are then pooled into data lakes.
3. The resources are then allocated by management software, into environments where applications run. They are then provisioned on an on-demand basis, via an authentication service.

Users can use a cloud management platform (CMP) to manage hybrid clouds. A dependable cloud management platform allows users to simplify the manageability, automation, and orchestration of public clouds. A CMP should provide the following capabilities:

• Back-end service catalogs
• Integrating with external enterprise management systems
• Facilitates connectivity and management of external clouds
• Support for application lifecycles
• Performance and capacity management

Types of Hybrid Clouds

Traditional Hybrid Cloud Architecture

Traditional hybrid cloud involves the combination of public and private clouds. Enterprises can build the private cloud component on their own or take the help of pre-packaged cloud infrastructure such as OpenStack. The private and public clouds are typically linked by a network of LANs, WANs, or VPNs.

Modern Hybrid Clouds

Modern hybrid clouds can run without requiring a vast network of APIs. Instead, they use a common operating system to develop and deploy apps through a unified platform.

Depending on a variety of factors, including organizational needs, hybrid clouds may include the following combinations of environments:

• A virtual environment connected to a minimum of one public or private cloud network.
• Two or more public clouds
• Two or more private clouds
• One public cloud and one private cloud

Hybrid Cloud Security

The term hybrid cloud security refers to the protection of applications, data, and infrastructure. It involves an IT architecture that incorporates workload portability, management, and orchestration. Spanning across multiple IT environments, it usually includes at least one public or private cloud. Hybrid clouds allow users to store sensitive or critical data away from public clouds, thereby decreasing the potential exposure of data.

Is Hybrid Cloud Security effective?

Enterprises using a hybrid cloud can choose where to allocate their workload and data. Security requirements, policies, audits, and compliance are vital considerations when configuring their distribution. Even though hybrid clouds consist of separate cloud models, interoperability is facilitated by containers as well as encrypted APIs. The hybrid cloud framework allows enterprises to use private clouds to run critical workloads, while less sensitive workloads can be shifted to the public cloud.

Stealthy attacks on data center infrastructure are quite common and cannot be detected easily using traditional antivirus solutions. Hybrid clouds provide an opportunity to integrate security into every layer of the cloud.

Benefits of Hybrid Cloud

Hybrid Cloud Technology combines the most useful features from both private and public cloud technologies. The two most important benefits of hybrid cloud implementation are given below:

Cost Savings

Since hybrid clouds combine the best of both, the public cloud component contained within it provides cost-effective resources without incurring significant labor costs or capital expenses. The advantage is in IT professionals being able to determine the best configuration, location as well as service providers for each service. This setup allows you to cut costs significantly by matching resources to the best-suited tasks. As a result, the scalability and deployment of services increase, which ultimately saves costs by eliminating unnecessary expenditures.

Flexibility and Scalability

Hybrid cloud systems provide unparalleled flexibility. The cloud can provide the necessary IT resources on short notice, whenever needed. The on-demand or temporary use of the public cloud when faced with excessive demand, is known as “cloud bursting.” Demand depends on a variety of factors, including geographic locations and events. The public cloud component of the hybrid cloud provides the necessary elasticity needed to deal with these sudden IT loads.

Data Storage

In a Hybrid cloud, the on-premises cloud storage provides high-speed access when it comes to data storage. Data which is not needed to be frequently accessed or is non-critical can be moved to a secure but less expensive location. The data is still accessible. This setup provides an economical way to share it with specific parties such as users, clients, etc., based on priority.

Time to Look into Hybrid Cloud Services?

Organizations can benefit greatly if they approach hybrid cloud technology with solid planning. Hybrid clouds offer on-demand flexibility that an enterprise needs in a hyper-competitive market. It empowers legacy systems and applications with newer capabilities, paving the way for future avenues of digital transformation.

When it comes to security, hybrid clouds can offer as much reliability as traditional on-premise solutions. Even though there are some security challenges, such as data migration and complexity, security is bolstered overall due to the multiple interconnected cloud environments. Security teams can also standardize cloud storage to augment disaster recovery efforts.

Enterprises can choose where to store their most critical and sensitive data according to their requirements. That’s the freedom hybrid cloud provides for businesses who want to stay ahead of the competition.

If that’s you, and you want more information on how to implement hybrid cloud strategies for your business, book an appointment now, and embrace the future.

As technology rapidly advances, there are numerous options available to businesses for running applications and software on the cloud. Several factors need to be considered when deciding if cloud infrastructure is the right choice. We’ll go through the main pros and cons of Cloud-based ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning software system) to help you navigate through the options.

We know it’s not easy to migrate into the cloud environment, and many companies continue to rely on trusted legacy software and on-premise applications to do business. Yet, Cloud-based ERPs offer many advantages such as lower up-front costs, hands-off maintenance, and automatic updates, making it worthy of serious consideration.

Cloud-Based ERP

Cloud computing continues to grow in popularity since it offers companies scalability, agility, and the ability to save resources and money. The wide range of choices forces decision-makers to answer critical questions about their goals. It’s especially true for a company going through a significant digital transformation, such as implementing a new Enterprise Resource Planning software solution.

In such a highly competitive technological landscape, using an ERP system is the best way to tackle the competition. It allows an enterprise to integrate various functions into one system and streamlines information and processes across the entire organization. The decision is whether to keep these processes on-premise or to shift them to the cloud using SaaS (Software as a Service).

To help you understand Cloud-based ERP software better, we’ll first look at On-premise ERP systems and examine the two concepts, including their pros and cons.

How Cloud ERP Works

Cloud-based ERP solutions involve organizations paying a subscription fee to providers to use the software. The software is usually accessed online through a server owned by the software provider. Under cloud solutions, the software vendor is responsible for the server infrastructure data integrity, updates, backups, and security measures.

A company’s applications are hosted offsite when using a cloud-based server, involving no capital expenses. Companies can back up their data regularly and are only required to pay for the resources it consumes. Cloud ERP solutions are ideal for those organizations that are aiming at global expansion, harnessing the reachability of cloud technology to connect with customers and partners almost everywhere, quickly.

Benefits of Cloud ERP

• Software functionality: Working in cloud-based environments makes it easy to create and build towards establishing a high degree of integrated functionality, or to add more users to the system quickly. This setup allows businesses to scale faster, especially if an organization plans on expanding overseas.
• Technical Deployment: Deployment is much simpler, faster, and less expensive, as no on-site infrastructure is required.
• Costs involved: Organizations using the Software-as-a-Service model of cloud technology is a more cost-effective option for vendors and organizations alike. Many businesses also prefer monthly payments for their software usage for budgeting reasons, which also saves significantly on IT management and support overheads.

Private or Public cloud?

The two options here go with either Public or Private cloud enviroments. With the private cloud, a company is responsible for the maintenance, management, and updating of hosted data centers as all data resides on the company’s intranet. Over time, servers need upgrading or replacing, which can become very expensive. The private cloud offers a high level of security since data is accessed only via secure and private network links. Bigger enterprises with sensitive data are more likely to choose this cloud option.

The greater advantages come with public cloud-hosting. The primary benefit is that you are not responsible for any management of the hosting solution. Only the provider is responsible for the upkeep of their data centers. Smaller enterprises prefer this option as it reduces lead times for testing, which allows for quick deployment of new products. Security issues and disaster recovery would be the only concern with using a public cloud that can be remedied with built-in redundancies. The right provider will have a plan for protecting your assets in the event of an attack or natural disaster.

On-Premise ERP: Defined

On-premise software or premise applications refers to the traditional way in which organizations acquire and use software programs. It generally requires the organization to pay a significant amount, typically the total cost, upfront. In exchange, they receive a product with full licensing, capable of being used on the company’s server. Organizations are thus required to manage and maintain their physical computer servers internally, primarily when backups and upgrades are being performed.

Businesses which generally operate in highly regulated industries, or those working with critical and confidential data, give high priority to data security. It’s the reason why many organizations have opted for on-premise ERP solutions; they want to keep their sensitive data secure within in-house servers.

Features

• Software Functionality: On-premise ERP providers themselves, usually apply all relevant patches and updates, when required. This setup makes this software solution less scalable as businesses are required to invest in more resources if they want to expand critical areas, such as bandwidth.
• Technical Deployment: Software licenses are typically installed within the organization’s server. Such installations, therefore, are not limited by slow or unreliable network connections. However, server maintenance requires some technical knowhow, which is best left to professionals and require additional hiring or investment.
• Costs involved: On-premise ERP solutions are more expensive to acquire and implement. The management is also responsible for covering any ongoing expenses related to information security management, maintenance of the hardware and software, and replacing servers. However, no continuous subscription fees are involved.

How to Choose the Right Enterprise Resource Planning System Option?

When organizations choose between the two options, they examine at the bottom-line first and deem it as the deciding factor in determining which technology will suit them best. Cost should not be the only deciding factor. Others need to be taken into consideration.

Aspects we recommend an organization should evaluate include:

• Bandwidth: The capabilities of the organization’s internet connectivity and infrastructure.
• Future Growth: The scalability requirements of the organization, including evolving business models, strategic business plans, or plans for expansion.
• Staff: The costs related to internal IT skills and HR resources.
• Budget: The organization’s allocated budget and other financial considerations, such as the best payment option or tax considerations.
• Resource Utilization: Cloud-based ERP solutions are more appealing to organizations because it uses fewer resources and provides more flexibility when it comes to accessing functionality and data.
• Complex Implementation: Cloud-based software can have multiple tenants or a single-tenant, depending on the cloud model chosen. This setup allows for the complex implementation of systems that have stringent security needs and sensitive data.
• Control over Data: For organizations that value control over data more than cost-effectiveness, on-premise solutions are ideal for them. On-premise solutions are also more effective for organizations working with unreliable or unstable internet connections.

Cloud ERP Security

Despite the general misconception about Cloud ERP solutions lacking security, modern vendors have increasingly focused on delivering a product with top-notch security held to international standards. However, proper implementation of these security standards requires a high quality IT management, which companies need to take into account.

Each year, more companies have started migrating their data, systems, and services over to the cloud due to the various limitations of on-premise ERP. Migration to a hosted server can provide immense benefits such as quick addition of storage systems, overall improvement of the team, and built-in security systems. The chances of downtime are reduced significantly, enabling organizations to maximize available resources.

Many companies are also using hybrid solutions such as on-premise clouds to avoid any third-party control. This allows you to run apps and services, while having workloads placed in the cloud or on-prem data centers, as appropriate.

The cost optimization that the cloud offers remains one of the most attractive features for organizations that have started expanding. On-premise solutions, alternatively, appear to give more control to organizations, and for some industries, this is worth the higher cost. Yet, more control does not mitigate the risks of suffering cyber attacks and instead increases the organization’s accountability.

The Bottom Line on ERP Systems

The final decision rests with the organization’s management and how they see their future. Do they want to remain contained and in control, or do they want to take advantage of cloud computing power and cloud-based solutions?

For larger enterprises, they can invest significant capital in on-premise ERP solutions but it isn’t for everyone. For medium to small scale businesses that have limitations on their budget, cloud ERP software alternatives are the only answer. They simply save time and money.

Whichever the case, every successful business requires a healthy and dynamic data ecosystem. Having a reliable and scalable infrastructure in place which can support end-to-end visibility of data flows, fast and secure file transfers, data transformation, and storage is integral to success.

To take a step toward the cloud, and learn more on how cloud software systems can run your business, contact us today.

The term “Edge computing” refers to computing as a distributed paradigm. It brings data storage and compute power closer to the device or data source where it’s most needed. Information is not processed on the cloud filtered through distant data centers; instead, the cloud comes to you. This distribution eliminates lag-time and saves bandwidth.

Edge Computing is an alternative approach to the cloud environment as opposed to the “Internet of Things.” It’s about processing real-time data near the data source, which is considered the ‘edge’ of the network. It’s about running applications as physically close as possible to the site where the data is being generated instead of a centralized cloud or data center or data storage location.

For example, if a vehicle automatically calculates fuel consumption, sensors based on data received directly from the sensors, the computer performing that action is called an Edge computing device or simply ‘edge device.’ Due to this change in data sourcing and management, we will compare the two technologies and examine the benefits each has to offer.

What is edge computing, exactly? To find out, we first need to look at the growth of the Internet of Things and IoT devices. Cloud computing revolves around large, centralized servers stored in data centers. After data is created on an end device, that data travels to that central server for processing. This architecture becomes cumbersome for processes that require intensive computations. Latency becomes the main problem here.

The definition of edge computing is a catch-all term for devices that take some of their key processes and move them to the edge of the network (near the device). These processes include computing and storage, and networking.

What is Edge Computing?

Edge Computing allows computing resources and application services to be distributed along the communication path, via decentralized computing infrastructure.

Computational needs are more efficiently met when using edge computing. Wherever there is a requirement of collecting data or where a user performs a particular action, it can be completed in real-time. Typically, the two main benefits associated with edge computing are improved performance and reduced operational costs, which are described in brief below.

Advantages of Using Edge Computing

Improved Performance

Besides collecting data for transmission to the cloud, edge computing also processes, analyses, and performs necessary actions on the collected data locally. Since these processes are completed in milliseconds, it’s become essential in optimizing technical data, no matter what the operations may be.
Transferring large quantities of data in real-time in a cost-effective way can be a challenge, primarily when conducted from remote industrial sites. This problem is remedied by adding intelligence to devices present at the edge of the network. Edge computing brings analytics capabilities closer to the machine, which cuts out the middle-man. This setup provides for less expensive options for optimizing asset performance.

Reducing Operational Costs

In the cloud computing model, connectivity, data migration, bandwidth, and latency features are pretty expensive. This inefficiency is remedied by edge computing, which has a significantly less bandwidth requirement and less latency. By applying edge computing, a valuable continuum from the device to the cloud is created, which can handle the massive amounts of data generated. Costly bandwidth additions are no longer required as there is no need to transfer gigabytes of data to the cloud. It also analyses sensitive IoT data within a private network, thereby protecting sensitive data. Enterprises now tend to prefer edge computing. This is because of its optimizable operational performance, address compliance and security protocols, alongside lower costs.

Edge computing can help lower dependence on the cloud and improve the speed of data processing as a result. Besides, there are already many modern IoT devices that have processing power and storage available. The move to edge processing power makes it possible to utilize these devices to their fullest potential.

Examples of Edge Computing

The best way to demonstrate the use of this method is through some key edge computing examples. Here are a few scenarios where edge computing is most useful:

Autonomous Vehicles

Self-driven or AI-powered cars and other vehicles require a massive volume of data from their surroundings to work correctly in real-time. A delay would occur if cloud computing were used.

Streaming Services

Services like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and the upcoming Disney+ all create a heavy load on network infrastructure. Edge computing helps create a smoother experience via edge caching. This is when popular content is cached in facilities located closer to end-users for easier and quicker access.

Smart Homes

Similar to streaming services, the growing popularity of smart homes poses a problem. It’s now too much of a network load to rely on conventional cloud computing alone. Processing information closer to the source means less latency and quicker response times in emergency scenarios. Examples include medical teams, fire, or police deployment.

Do note that organizations can lose control of their data if the cloud is located in multiple locations around the world. This setup can pose a problem for certain institutions such as banks, which are required by law to store data in their home country only. Although efforts are being made to come up with a solution, cloud computing has clear disadvantages when it comes to cloud data security.

Defining Cloud Computing

Cloud computing refers to the use of various services such as software development platforms, storage, servers, and other software through internet connectivity. Vendors for cloud computing have three common characteristics which are mentioned below:

• Services are scalable
• A user must pay the expenses of the services used, which can include memory, processing time, and bandwidth.
• Cloud vendors manage the back-end of the application.

Service Models of Cloud Computing

Cloud computing services can be deployed in terms of business models, which can differ depending on specific requirements. Some of the conventional service models employed are described in brief below.

1. Platform as a Service or PaaS: PaaS allows consumers to purchase access to platforms, allowing them to deploy their software and applications on the cloud. The consumer does not manage the operating systems or the network access, which can create some constraints on the nature of applications that can be deployed. Amazon Web Services, Rackspace, and Microsoft Azure are examples.
2. Software as a Service or SaaS: In SaaS, Consumers have to purchase the ability to access or use an application or service, hosted by the cloud.
3. Infrastructure as a Service or IaaS: Here, consumers can control and manage the operating systems, applications, network connectivity, and storage, without controlling the cloud themselves.

Deployment Models of Cloud Computing

Just like the service models, cloud computing deployment models also depend on requirements. There are four main deployment models, each of which has its characteristics.

1. Community Cloud: Community Cloud infrastructures allow a cloud to be shared among several organizations with shared interests and similar requirements. As a result, this limits capital expenditure costs as it is shared among the many organizations using them. These operations may be conducted with a third party on the premises or 100% in-house.
2. Private Cloud: Private Clouds are deployed, maintained, and operated solely for specific organizations.
3. Public Cloud: Public Clouds can be used by the public on a commercial basis but owned by a cloud service provider. A consumer can thus, develop and deploy a service without the substantial financial resources required in other deployment options.
4. Hybrid Cloud: This type of cloud infrastructure consists of several different types of clouds. However, these clouds have the capability to allow data and applications to move from one cloud to another. Hybrid Clouds can be a combination of private and public clouds, as well.

Benefits of Using Cloud Computing

Despite the many challenges faced by Cloud Computing, there are many benefits of the cloud as well.

Scalability/Flexibility

Cloud Computing allows companies to start with a small deployment of clouds and expand reasonably rapidly and efficiently. Scaling back can also be done quickly if the situation demands it. It also allows companies to add extra resources when needed, which enables them to satisfy growing customer demands.

Reliability

Services using multiple redundant sites support business continuity and disaster recovery.

Maintenance

The Cloud service providers themselves conduct system maintenance.

Mobile Accessibility

Cloud computing also supports Mobile accessibility to a higher degree.

Cost Saving

By using Cloud computing, companies can significantly reduce both their capital and operational expenditures when it comes to expanding their computing capabilities.

Comparisons between Edge Computing and Cloud Computing

Note that the emergence of edge computing is not advised to be a total replacement for cloud computing. Their differences can be likened to those between an SUV and a racing car, for example. Both vehicles have different purposes and uses. To better understand the differences, we created a table of comparisons.

Looking To The Future

Many companies now are making a move towards edge computing. However, edge computing is not the only solution. For computing challenges faced by IT vendors and organizations, cloud computing remains a viable solution. In some instances, they use it in tandem with edge computing for a more comprehensive solution. Delegating all data to the edge is also not a wise decision. It’s why public cloud providers have started combining IoT strategies and technology stacks with edge computing.

Edge computing vs. cloud computing is not an either-or debate, nor are they direct competitors. Rather, they provide more computing options for your organization’s needs as a tandem. To implement this type of hybrid solution, identifying those needs and comparing them against costs should be the first step in assessing what would work best for you.

To find out more about the future of edge and cloud computing, bookmark our blog and contact us for a quote.