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Cloud Computing
What is Cloud Computing?
Although it is difficult to come up with a precise definition of cloud computing, the basic concept is that applications run in the Internet "cloud" instead of an organization's computers. Cloud computing allows developers and end-users to develop, deploy and run applications that easily grow capacity, work fast, and never fail, all without any concern as to the nature or location of the underlying infrastructure. Cloud computing is similar to Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) in that it delivers applications through the browser to thousands of customers. On the customer side, it means no upfront investment in servers or software licensing.
The Advantages of Cloud Computing
Cloud computing is a way for organizations to easily increase IT capacity or add capabilities on the fly without new capital expenditures. Cloud computing services have these advantages:
Virtualization. Applications are decoupled from the underlying hardware. Multiple applications run on one server (virtualization) or multiple servers, as necessary.
Scalability. The cloud platform has capacity to automatically increase or decrease to match demand. You only pay for the IT services that you use.
Reliability. Cloud-based systems are managed by service-level agreements (SLAs) that define how quickly responses to requests need to be delivered. If the system is experiencing peaks in load, it will create additional instances of the application on more servers to comply with the committed service levels.
Multi-tenancy. The system is built in a way that allows several customers to share infrastructure, without the end-users being aware of it and without compromising the privacy and security of each customer’s data.
Redundancy. If a given instance fails, the cloud application is capable of starting a new instance of itself. In case of failure, there is a new instance of the application ready to take over without disruption.
Centralized updating. This removes the need for downloadable patches and upgrades. Every user has instant access to the most recent version of the cloud application.
Make the Move to the Cloud Today
Amber Waves Software can help you save money by moving your applications to the cloud. Please contact us to discuss your project.
