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07.25.2012
Without realizing it, many people have been using the cloud even before the term became widely known to both consumers and businesses. Applications such as email and other programs which are web based and accessed over the internet are in reality, cloud applications. The concept of web-based applications such as Hotmail and Gmail as well as instant messenger, social networking and other apps which can be accessed from any location with an internet connection are early forms of cloud computing.
The increased use of mobile devices which potentially mark the decline of the PC era and the upward trend of cloud computing has prompted the demand for being able to access content from anywhere and from any type of device. Gartner predicts that the demand will only continue to accelerate over the next few years.
What Gartner Says about the Future of Cloud Computing
Gartner, a leading information technology research company since 1979, recently released a report outlining the growth of cloud computing storage within the next few years. The research firm pointed out that the amount of content stored in the cloud during the year 2011 was less than 8 percent.
The amount of cloud computing storage is expected to increase to approximately 36 percent by the year 2016, according to Gartner. This figure points to the fact that more users of cloud computing storage will be moving at least one-third of their content to the cloud by 2016.
Japan and South Korea to Experience the Highest Growth in Cloud Computing
Since cloud computing is based on a pay-as-you-go model and provides a cost effective way to share technology resources, the concept of cloud computing represents a way for organizations to reduce IT costs. According the International Data Corporation (IDC), a leading global provider of market intelligence for the information technology, telecommunications and consumer technology markets, organizations worldwide generated revenue of more than $600 billion and created more than 1.2 million jobs during the year 2011 as the result of using cloud computing services.
The IDC study also showed that more than fifty percent of the employment positions created during 2012 will be in the small to medium-sized business sectors. A high percentage of this growth will originate from the United States and Western Europe with Japan and South Korea experiencing the highest growth in the use of cloud computing in the Asia Pacific, according to Gartner.
Gartner Forecasts for Cloud Computing Storage
Gartner forecasts an increase in the use of cloud computing as the result of technologically advanced smartphones, tablet PCs, handheld gadgets and other portable devices which are capable of producing multimedia content which in turn, increases storage demands. Gartner continues to explain that the increase in storage demands for digital content is also the result of social media networking sites such as Facebook which also strive to meet the storage demands for the consumer. However, the amount of storage offered to the consumer is relatively small compared to other cloud storage resources, according to Gartner. Regardless, consumers will be able to store and share multimedia on various social media sites which offer storage space free of charge.
All of these studies point to the fact that cloud computing storage and services are on the rise and the upward trend will continue through 2016.
Our articles are written to provide you with tools and information to meet your IT and cloud solution needs. Join us on Facebook and Twitter.
About the Guest Author:
Aeyne Schriber has more than two decades of accumulated experience in IT security, computer technology, and internet marketing, including technology education and administration field both on the public school and college level. She works worldwide helping companies establish an online presence from small businesses to large enterprises. Her skills as a published copywriter and marketer also include consulting and training corporate personnel and entrepreneurs. For more details, visit www.digitalnewmediamarketing.com
07.24.2012
A great result of the expansion of cloud computing services has been the democratization of IT services. Companies that could only afford basic IT can now go in for full-fledged ERP solutions. However, while the cost barrier has been broken, the knowledge and skill barriers still remain. Not every small and medium business can afford to start out with staff that can guide the company to proper utilization of cloud based services. Many CEOs, too busy with the day to day running of their companies may not even have the time to study the subject.
New capabilities in Cloud Computing have gone way beyond simple storage of data. With full fledged applications being run over the cloud, there are complex issues of integration, security and relationship management. If the busy CEO does not have the time to manage these issues, he would perhaps give up for the moment and decide to look at the issue when he can afford to hire an IT staff. This is a pity. IT and the proper use of cloud computing can add wings to his business but he has no option but to put it on hold because he can’t afford the staff or invest his own time.
That is where cloud brokerage comes in. Brokerages serve as intermediaries between the cloud service provider and the end user. They help the end user overcome the complexity and get the service he needs.
The cloud broker need not be a person. It could be software or a suite of technologies that will aggregate the services that a user needs (these could even be available with different vendors) and package them in way that the end user gets a complete package that fits his business needs closely. If the company were to achieve the same result through its own manpower, it would have to fritter away precious resources in hiring IT skills. It is far more cost effective to use the services of a broker if your cloud computing needs are well defined and do not need extensive customization.
There are three parts of the service that a broker provides:
Cloud brokerage becomes even more critical if you are in an industry where there are several regulatory requirements for the business to run. Using specialist brokers who understand your industry and its regulatory requirements is an industry wide best practice and it ensures that your business will stay compliant.
There are three categories of cloud brokers available today. These are Intermediation Brokers, Aggregators and Cloud Arbitrage Services. The services they provide are described below -
If you are a company that is still in a rapid growth phase, using cloud brokerage would permit you to get the best of the breed cloud solutions without needing to hire a full time IT staff. Your IT solutions can grow with your company without ever becoming a non-productive drain.
Our articles are written to provide you with tools and information to meet your IT and cloud solution needs. Join us on Facebook and Twitter.
About the Guest Author:
Sanjay Srivastava has been active in computing infrastructure and has participated in major projects on cloud computing, networking, VoIP and in creation of applications running over distributed databases. Due to a military background, his focus has always been on stability and availability of infrastructure. Sanjay was the Director of Information Technology in a major enterprise and managed the transition from legacy software to fully networked operations using private cloud infrastructure. He now writes extensively on cloud computing and networking and is about to move to his farm in Central India where he plans to use cloud computing and modern technology to improve the lives of rural folk in India.
07.23.2012
It is no longer news that public cloud technology provides an unparalleled flexibility and speed when compared with hosting IT infrastructures on rigid and slow traditional servers.
The dream of every new start-up is to grow and expand its business operations. The projected period of growth might be in months or years. However, due to favorable business environments, some new companies suddenly find themselves expanding at an alarming rate that they will have to increase their server capacity, storage usage, and application of improved security systems.
Samba Tech is a typical example to demonstrate that companies should adopt cloud technology in advance so as to be able to withstand sudden growth that may threaten the survival of their businesses. Samba Tech was founded in 2008, as an online video delivery, exploring the untapped market for this type of business in Brazil.
And within three years of operations, serving some international media companies like Viacom, Bloomberg, and ESPN as a platform for delivering online video content to Latin American viewers, Samba’s revenue rose by a whopping 200 percent to about $2.8million. This could be described as a surprising growth level for a three-year-old start-up.
Expectedly, Samba Tech began to face the serious threat to its business operations due to sudden increase in storage, server, security, and IT management requirements. The company initially had no plan to handle its IT systems; so, Samba started with a local hosting service with limited storage capacity, limited number of servers and poor IT management procedures which eventually led to poor video quality and dissatisfied customer services. To prevent a colossal collapse of the company, the management of Samba opted for public cloud, which not only provided flexibility in the area of scaling up and down the amount of storage usage, server capacity and the introduction of enhanced IT security systems, but also helped Samba to deal with sudden hike in IT infrastructure requirements, especially when additional processing power was needed. For instance, when there were popular sporting events on ESPN or new marketing campaigns on other channels that used Samba Tech, the adoption of public cloud afforded the company the unique opportunity of scaling up its IT systems (that were based in the cloud) to meet these new requirements at a faster rate and at a moderately affordable cost.
And here is the final summation from Samba Chief Technology Officer, Fernando Campos: “It’s difficult to foresee when we will need additional capacity, but while traditional servers can take weeks to deploy, public cloud servers take less than 30 seconds. If the cloud technology wasn’t available, we couldn’t have grown as fast as we have.”
This case study reveals two important facts about running any company:
But should companies wait until unexpected growth and expansion make their businesses virtually inoperable before adopting the public cloud technology? In the words of Samba’s Chief Technology Officer, a sudden change or growth is almost impossible to predict: hence, strategic managers should be able to safeguard the operations of their companies by migrating their IT structures to the cloud in anticipation for future growth. It is dangerous to allow a company with a rigid traditional hosting system to confront an unexpected increase in IT infrastructure requirements! If this situation is not properly managed, it could lead to the sudden collapse of the company and create poor customer satisfaction.
Obviously, the public cloud technology does not only provide great opportunity for companies to expand at any rate they could, but also reduces the overhead cost of running these companies. This is basically in line with the new mantra of cost-efficiency, which is fast gaining currency in the corporate world.
Our articles are written to provide you with tools and information to meet your IT and cloud solution needs. Join us on Facebook and Twitter.
About the Guest Author:
Jerry Olasakinju, a Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) degree holder, is a passionate researcher and writer whose interest in everything computing is unparalleled. He blogs about his literary works at http://jerryolasakinju.blogspot.jp/
07.20.2012
In any type of business, data and information are the foundation on which a company stands, grows and succeeds. As the world of technology evolves, most if not all companies have understood the power of building an online presence to further their business. Creating a website to promote a business has been an effective means to build brand awareness, reach a wider demographic, and increase sales. Traditional IT systems have been utilized to secure the data being used by companies in their websites. However, as the digital age continues to progress, revolutionary virtual data centers have emerged to provide the needed affordability and flexibility through the birth of cloud hosting.
With the proliferation of various cloud hosting service providers, companies have the option to control their systems online instead of conventional hardware that could face several technical failures. By hosting their sites on the cloud, data are stored and maintained on virtual servers that are often distributed in different locations. Since data is the most important tool to communicate a company’s goals, products and services, a cloud hosting provider offers companies intensified security by backing up their data on several servers. With hardware systems, users could duplicate their data on disks, flash drives, or save it on several computers to ensure that data won’t be lost. Much like this set-up, cloud hosting provides customers with security assurance by copying and saving the same data on other servers if an unanticipated problem occurs.
Since systems could crash down or experience delays due to human error, malware, operational malfunction, outages or natural disasters, it is crucial for cloud hosting providers to give a sense of safety and protection for its clients through the practice of redundancy. The amount of loss or damage brought by downtime on a company’s website is unimaginable for any business owner. Instead of getting more visitors to learn about their company or more consumers to patronize their product, a blank or frozen page is displayed on their computers. One could only imagine the amount of money lost during this downtime and companies cannot afford for this incident to occur. This is why when cloud hosting services are availed, redundancy is a vital feature to look for.
However, when data are stored by a single provider on its different data centers, companies still face the risk of losing their data if the whole operation of that single provider bogs down. The answer to this high risk situation comes with the usage of multiple cloud providers to maintain your data. This entails two or more totally separate hosts controlling your data in different regions which allows for tighter security when disruptions happen. Though this may sound a bit complex since you will have to deal with cloud hosting services managed differently and using their own systems, you need to look at the bigger picture on how multi-cloud usage could benefit your business. The additional costs involved by availing multiple cloud hosts could eventually be worth your money when you pay for maintenance repair during crashes or profits lost during downtime.
In fact, the demand for redundancy thru multiple cloud hosting providers has brought about the presence of several vendors that act as the go-between for customers who want to use multiple hosts but deal with just one company. These vendors tie up with different cloud hosting providers and offer their services to the customers who could use just one interface. The advantage of working with just a single company providing multiple cloud hosts is that data can be copied or transferred from one provider to another effortlessly. The mobility offered in this type of service has surely attracted many companies especially those producing and controlling data on a fast-paced business environment.
It is important however to note that companies must ensure that chosen cloud hosting providers for redundancy are protecting their data with a secured system. Data should remain confidential while being accessed only by authorized persons. In the process of releasing and using data thru the web, several security measures must be applied by these multiple cloud hosts in order for data to remain intact and unaltered. These risks are present once redundancy is made thru different cloud hosting providers but should be mitigated since they are entrusted by the companies to protect their data, systems, and ultimately their reputation.
Our articles are written to provide you with tools and information to meet your IT and cloud solution needs. Join us on Facebook and Twitter.
About the Guest Author:
Rodolfo Lentejas, Jr. is a fulltime freelance writer based in Toronto. He is the founder of the PostSckrippt, a growing online writing business dedicated to producing top quality, original and fresh content. To know more about him, please visit www.postsckrippt.ca. Like him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest.