The emergence of Software as a Service (SaaS) and Cloud Computing has changed the dynamics of hosting and provisioning of Internet services. At some point, the definition of cloud-based hosting will need to evolve. Everyone who has a server hosted in a remote location is, in reality, using a cloud (as defined) service.
The real issue that will change hosting over time is virtual hosting. Products such as VMware are providing companies with remarkable flexibility when their Internet requirements vary or change often. At present, developers often benefit the most from a virtual host environment, as they can add or delete clients, create sandbox development sites, and other changes on the fly. Many companies, on the other hand, don’t need to change their server specifications, and as such, virtual hosting is not of immediate importance to them.
R/com provides both secure server-based cloud services as well as virtual services. At present, our hosted environment offers both value and security, in a services environment that is made up of three levels of service. The most basic is competitive hosted content. The most advanced includes application management, hardware and software firewall security optimized for the client specifically, as well as off-site backups and mirrors.
The dynamics of selecting a hosted solution are pretty basic: what do you offer the public, your internal staff, and external secure partners? From there, a hosting design takes shape pretty quickly.
There are some specific benefits to server-based cloud computing. The environment is stable and you control the content and management of the environment – which in turn drives a cost benefit. On average, our server-hosted clients spend 38% less than those who opt for virtual services, as most elements become a la carte when that route is selected.
We also ensure that the performance of the environment, meaning the speed of drives, the software used to ensure failed drives don’t interrupt service, and other factors keep our clients websites and services up and running. It’s really important, however, to review those services, and to never be satisfied with the status quo. Things change all the time, and we work with our clients to keep them up-to-date.
We ask our clients and partners to bring forward any questions they have about secure hosting and cloud-based services. We’ll talk more about these evolutionary practices as the fall progresses.