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Enterprises depend on the cloud for modern app development. CIOs can learn the key features that set apart cloud computing from conventional, on-premises IT architectures, saving the company thousands of costs.
Fremont, CA: The applications of the cloud are expanding beyond the horizons; the only constant in the cloud computing fabric is its key characteristics. By acquainting themselves to these key characteristics, CIOs can hack into the implementation of cloud computing with ease.
AWS was the pioneer in the full application of cloud computing as an alternative to on-premises infrastructure in 2006. Today, the cloud computing technology covers IaaS to SaaS and all the services included in between, such as AI, containers, serverless systems, databases, IoT, dedicated networking, analytics, business apps, and many others.
Each subdivision has its unique benefits and challenges, which are based on core features that underpin all the subsets. These are the seven key characteristics of cloud computing the CIOs should know before customizing, deploying, and building the cloud into the latest application of the company:
1. On-Demand Computing:
Majority of the public cloud platforms provides resources to the users at the click of a button or through an API call. These vendors possess massive amounts of compute and storage assets on standby for immediate use, distributed among data centers all over the world. This not only monitors efficiency but also presents somewhat radical changes among the CIOs and their teams who are accustomed to long waiting periods for completion.
2. Self-Service Provisioning:
Self-service provisioning works resourcefully with on-demand computing, avoiding wait times during the delivery of new servers to a private data center. Developers are also given the freedom to choose the tools and resources necessary to be built right away. Company CIOs can leverage from adept admin, which sets the policies regarding the limit of use. The data centers have the freedom to select within this perimeter as they see fit.
3. Resource Pooling:
To enable an increased number of users at the same time, public cloud providers have relied on multi-tenant architectures. The workloads of the customers are extracted from the hardware and the underlying software to serve multiple users in one host. Cloud providers are highly dependent on custom hardware and abstraction layers to enhance the security, speed, and users' access to resources.
4. Scalability:
Scalability is a critical characteristic that is necessary for the CIOs because it enables the compute, storage, and networking assets to be added and removed whenever needed. The feature also helps the company's IT teams to optimize its cloud-based workloads and avoid bottlenecks with end-users. The provision of automation software elevates the working of users with dynamic scaling, allowing the cloud to be scaled both horizontally and vertically.
Conventional, on-premises architecture isn't easily scalable. CIOs need to plan depending on the peak capacity and keep the extra resources idle during lulls in activity, all while driving up the costs.
5. Pay-Per-Use Pricing:
Cloud providers enable the pay-per-use pricing option for IT teams to shift expenditures from the capital to operations. Generally, this is considered a positive feature, but the CIOs need to be careful since their resources are not static. VMs should be turned off while not being used, right-sized, or scaled-down depending on the working conditions. In failing to do so, the organizations may end up with a hefty monthly bill. Vendors have moved from pay-per-use, being their only plan to other pricing models to encourage and accommodate long-term commitments.
6. Resiliency:
Cloud providers engage in numerous ways to safeguard against downtime; some measures include minimizing regional dependencies for ducking point failures. The CIOs can also expand their workloads across several zones prioritized based on availability. Some significant players or higher-level services automatically distribute workloads across several availability zones. Even with profuse planning, these systems are not foolproof.
It is always advised for the CIOs to have contingency plans in place in case of outages. Most of the time, it means expanding the workloads across isolated regions or even different platforms, also accompanied by a hefty price tag and complexity.
7. Security:
Until today, no major cloud providers have reported a breach of the resources on the platforms. While many enterprises are hesitant to migrate workloads due to security concerns, it can be subsided with the benefits presented by the characteristics of cloud computing. Cloud vendors are armed with the best security experts in the world and are better equipped than corporate IT teams, especially while tackling the threats. The cloud is considered as a security asset by the best financial enterprises in the world.
Regardless of how well the providers maintain the security, the fact doesn't absolve the CIOs of their duties. But with an equipped personal defense system along with the platform security provided by the cloud provider can adequately protect the enterprise data.
Check Out: Enterprise Security Magazine Europe
