In today's tech world, we all throw around the word Cloud or Cloud Computing, but many probably do not know what this means.
For the next four weeks, I will introduce cloud types and cloud layers. Before we get started on the types and layers, lets take a step back and digest how cloud came about. At the core of cloud is the concept of virtualization. So what is virtualization. Virtualization is the process by which you share hardware infrastructure, the major components being compute, memory, storage, and networking (capacity). IBM has been doing virtualization for decades now with its z Mainframe computers and for the last decade or so with its Power platform. In the late 1990s / early 2000s, VMWare and others brought virtualization to x86-based hardware.
With processors getting more and more powerful, today's computers are running at 10-15% utilization meaning that 85% of the processing power was being wasted in the triple whammy - space, power, and HVAC (air conditioning). Using virtualization, data centers can reduce the triple whammy by a factor of 10 or more physical servers to 1 virtual server. More about this in next week's series - Infrastructure as a Service(IaaS).
Now lets introduce cloud type - private, public, and hybrid.
Private cloud - Infrastructure is on site with customer
Hybrid cloud - Infrastructure is mostly on site with customer but bursts to public or shared private sites
Public cloud - Infrastructure is publicly shared
VirtInfoTech primarily works with public cloud companies to provide services such as email, website hosting, CRM, and other services to its customers without having to own or invest capital into equipment or operations costs. Because cloud can be leveraged so well, cloud services can be very economical, especially to small businesses who might not have access to capital resources or have resources to maintain servers. This cost savings is passed on from VirtInfoTech's cloud providers to you, our end customers. Besides being economical, commercial cloud hosted services meet or exceed the available of large companies. This significantly levels the playing field in today's business world so that that small businesses can have the same capability of large companies at a fraction of the cost.
Using Exchange email as an example with a small company with 20 persons, to achieve enterprise availability for email - typically three 9's availability (99.9% or 8.76 hours of downtime a year), a company would need to purchase two computers, along with MS Server, MS Exchange, MS SQL Server, and back up storage software and either disk or tape drives. This would easily cost $10K or more along with $15K per year based on 25% time for a system administrator to operate and maintain the system. Assuming a three year depreciation, this would cost $3,333 + $15K or $18K+ per year plus $1K in electricity. A similar VirtInfoTech Premium email account (with SharePoint) for 20 persons would cost the same company $4800 per year and be much more capable. A $10K / year savings with better availability!
For the next week three weeks we will discuss cloud layers - Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS).
In the mean time, contact VirtInfoTech to learn more about how we can move your existing email to the cloud or a more reliable provider if you are not please with your current cloud provider.
For the next four weeks, I will introduce cloud types and cloud layers. Before we get started on the types and layers, lets take a step back and digest how cloud came about. At the core of cloud is the concept of virtualization. So what is virtualization. Virtualization is the process by which you share hardware infrastructure, the major components being compute, memory, storage, and networking (capacity). IBM has been doing virtualization for decades now with its z Mainframe computers and for the last decade or so with its Power platform. In the late 1990s / early 2000s, VMWare and others brought virtualization to x86-based hardware.
With processors getting more and more powerful, today's computers are running at 10-15% utilization meaning that 85% of the processing power was being wasted in the triple whammy - space, power, and HVAC (air conditioning). Using virtualization, data centers can reduce the triple whammy by a factor of 10 or more physical servers to 1 virtual server. More about this in next week's series - Infrastructure as a Service(IaaS).
Now lets introduce cloud type - private, public, and hybrid.
Private cloud - Infrastructure is on site with customer
Hybrid cloud - Infrastructure is mostly on site with customer but bursts to public or shared private sites
Public cloud - Infrastructure is publicly shared
VirtInfoTech primarily works with public cloud companies to provide services such as email, website hosting, CRM, and other services to its customers without having to own or invest capital into equipment or operations costs. Because cloud can be leveraged so well, cloud services can be very economical, especially to small businesses who might not have access to capital resources or have resources to maintain servers. This cost savings is passed on from VirtInfoTech's cloud providers to you, our end customers. Besides being economical, commercial cloud hosted services meet or exceed the available of large companies. This significantly levels the playing field in today's business world so that that small businesses can have the same capability of large companies at a fraction of the cost.
Using Exchange email as an example with a small company with 20 persons, to achieve enterprise availability for email - typically three 9's availability (99.9% or 8.76 hours of downtime a year), a company would need to purchase two computers, along with MS Server, MS Exchange, MS SQL Server, and back up storage software and either disk or tape drives. This would easily cost $10K or more along with $15K per year based on 25% time for a system administrator to operate and maintain the system. Assuming a three year depreciation, this would cost $3,333 + $15K or $18K+ per year plus $1K in electricity. A similar VirtInfoTech Premium email account (with SharePoint) for 20 persons would cost the same company $4800 per year and be much more capable. A $10K / year savings with better availability!
For the next week three weeks we will discuss cloud layers - Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS).
In the mean time, contact VirtInfoTech to learn more about how we can move your existing email to the cloud or a more reliable provider if you are not please with your current cloud provider.
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