Cloud Services
Is now the right time to move to cloud services?
Most businesses have realised that their flexibility, speed and ability to adapt to emerging market trends in coming years will depend on adopting a successful cloud services strategy. At the same time, the need for the right cloud experience, and to not disrupt business-critical functions in the process, weighs heavily on those responsible for implementing a cloud-native approach. HPE can help assess your business’s cloud readiness and mitigate any gaps.
-
What are cloud services?
The term “cloud services” encompasses a wide variety of activities. Essentially, if a cloud provider hosts services on their own infrastructure for customers to access over the internet, they’re providing cloud services.
-
Why do people use cloud services?
It is much easier for companies using cloud services strategies to scale than it is for those solely using on-premises infrastructure. Because everything runs through the cloud service provider, the business doesn’t have to invest in the resources and staff to manage their infrastructure, which also enables them to quickly scale back down should the need arise.
With this comes increased financial flexibility. Cloud service providers tend to run on a pay-as-you-go pricing model, so businesses only pay for what they use and are able to shut down their service at any time.
-
What types of cloud services exist?
While it seems like there are new cloud services being developed every day, there are three major types:
- Software as a Service (SaaS): The broadest form of cloud service, SaaS involves customers accessing their remotely-hosted software over the internet. Rather than a one-time fee, SaaS usually runs on a subscription basis. Widely known SaaS products include Microsoft Office 365, Dropbox and Adobe Creative Cloud.
- Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): Centrally managed hardware made available to users for rapid provisioning in a virtualised environment. The infrastructure includes compute resources, cloud storage, and networking capability. Users access these resources via a browser-based management console or by API.
- Platform as a Service (PaaS): A complete development environment that is hosted in the cloud and enables application developers to create apps quickly and easily. It usually includes an OS, web server, tools, programming language, database, network, servers, storage, and more. The PaaS provider hosts and maintains the system and often builds a solution tailored to the unique needs of the customer.
-
What’s the difference between public cloud and private cloud services?
When it comes to choosing cloud services, businesses have options. These options usually fall within three categories: public cloud, private cloud and hybrid cloud (a mix of both).
Public cloud services are those that are available to a large number of customers over the web. Public cloud is frequently used by enterprises to enable their employees to share resources at a large scale.
Private cloud services are those that are run through a company’s infrastructure and are not available for external customers to use. A common reason businesses choose private cloud is that it enables them to have greater control over privacy and security protocols.
However, organisations don't neeed to choose one or the other. The third option is hybrid cloud services, when businesses run some of their cloud services on their own infrastructure and some over the web through other providers.