FAQ

What is cloud or utility computing?

Cloud computing is the use of networked infrastructure software and capacity to provide resources to users in an on-demand environment. Sometimes known as utility computing, clouds provide a set of typically virtualized computers which can provide users with the ability to start and stop servers or use compute cycles only when needed, often paying only for the use of those services.

What’s the difference in “on-premise”, “hosted”, and “cloud”?

“On-premise” deployments typically refer to installations of software on hardware owned or leased by an end-user. The majority of offerings the software vendors provides to end-users today are utilized in “on-premise” deployments. Cloud computing with ‘Cloud’ providers provides an alternative for users seeking an alternative to purchasing or leasing their own hardware and facilities or committing to fixed hosting contracts. As the offering provides “cloud”-based web services, customers can very easily scale up and down their compute power as the demands on a business fluctuate.

How do subscriptions in the cloud for Hardware & software work?

Some key differences in the subscription model.

Monthly Subscription: Customers who subscribe to a software will be charged a monthly fee for access to the maintenance and support some of the vendors charge per user basis. This subscription provides customers with access to chosen software as well as access to HW resources (storage) within the cloud infrastructure. As long as a monthly subscription is maintained, customers will have access to the services and will be able to start and stop servers on the cloud infrastructure web service.

Hourly use fees: Upon instantiation of one or more servers at Computing on Demand service providers, customers will be charged on a per-compute-hour model based on the type of server (Small, Large, Extra-Large) specified when the instance was started. For every server that is started, the customer’s account will be billed individually for the use of that server by the hour.

Bandwidth fees: Charges for actual bandwidth used into and out-of the EC2 web service.

Storage fees: Monthly fees for the use of persistent storage with cloud storage providers. The charges depend on the cloud storage provider, based on giga bytes transferred, and storage size etc.

Who bills me for cloud services?

When you purchase cloud services with a cloud HW / SW service provider, you will be billed by the respective vendor for the monthly subscription fee, variable usage fees, and additional services based on your consumption and type of engagement.

How is cloud computing different from hosting or grid computing or other terms heard in the industry?

Various terms (such as cloud computing, elastic computing, grid computing, mesh computing) are used to describe the ability to tap into internet based resources that can be accessed on demand to perform computing tasks.

Can I create my own “cloud” using my existing data center?

Yes. We provide services to enable the creation of both private and public computing clouds using your existing data center resources.

Why should one adopt cloud computing? What are the benefits that it offers?

The first thing is, significant cost benefits. No capital investment on Hardware or Software.

You choose, the HW, SW that suits your needs, and you pay only for the usage.

Do you want quickly access computing capacity, software as service at fraction of the cost? Then cloud computing is the answer.

The benefits of cloud computing:

• The infinite computing resources available on demand
• Flexible pay structure pay per use per month
• No wasteful IT infrastructure
• Reduced Operational Management Requirements
• Up & running in weeks
• Instant scaling up or down, without fear
• Access from anywhere, anytime
• Security as per highest norms
• No need to plan far ahead for capacity provisioning: Start small and increase hardware resources only when there is an increase in their needs.
• Quickly evaluate software with no install

Reduced Cost: Cloud technology is paid incrementally, saving organizations money. Increased Storage Organizations can store more data than on private computer systems.

Highly Automated Configuration: No longer do IT personnel need to worry about keeping software up to date.

Flexibility: Cloud computing offers much more flexibility than past computing methods.

More Mobility: Employees can access information wherever they are, rather than having to remain at their desks.

Allows IT to Shift Focus: No longer having to worry about constant server updates and other computing issues.

Allows businesses to focus on Business: Cloud computing will unburden your IT department from technical issues allowing you to focus more on your business needs and deliver superior value to customers.

What does it have to do with SaaS, VM?

There are two types of virtualization; platform and resource. Platform virtualization involves the simulation of virtual machines for use by remote resources. Resource virtualization is the simulation of combined, fragmented, or simplified resources.

The advantages of virtualization and SaaS to both end users and service providers are well understood. Service providers enjoy greatly simplified software installation and maintenance and centralized control over versioning; end users can access the service “anytime, anywhere”, share data and collaborate more easily, and keep their data stored safely in the infrastructure.

Cloud Computing does not change these arguments, but it does give more application providers the choice of deploying their product as SaaS without provisioning a datacenter. Cloud Computing allows deploying SaaS—and scaling on demand—without building or provisioning a datacenter.

If you’re planning to move your IT to cloud computing, already you are likely to be well-versed in virtualization. There is recognition that virtualization functions well as an enterprise strategy.

Virtualization brings very significant benefits to the SaaS world. Virtualization gives users an easy migration path to SaaS without having to give up the flexibility of ‘dedicated’ design. At the same time, virtualization allows service providers to make their hosting infrastructure very flexible yet very efficient.