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Understanding Cloud Computing or a Pay-As-You-Go Utility Model
Let’s understand what cloud computing and “Pay-As-You-Go” (PAYG) models are. Let’s first tackle PAYG. Simply put, PAYG is a “utility” computing model that allows a user to pay based on the incurred machine hours or the amount of resources consumed. This is a very interesting utility computing model. Users are charged based on their usage hours rather than on the entire infrastructure or computing resources present on-premises.
So when it comes to low costs – and mind you, it always does, it’s a perpetual necessity for organizations looking to cut down a lot of up-front charges and on-going IT expenses – for companies, what you have is billable hours on used services verses an actual, entire infrastructure fleet of computing resources. Which one wins? Of course, “utility” or on-demand usage wins hands down. A large capital expenditure may not be very beneficial when you know that using cloud services give you the low cost/low entry point. Therefore, you don’t require a complete infrastructure to serve your purpose; you just need an on-demand Cloud solution which gives you the biggest advantage of curtailing the upfront capital expenditure you’ll incur from traditional on-premises or in-house infrastructure.
Under this model, a dedicated cloud server – including software, storage, and development platforms – can be provisioned for your use and the billing for it can be done according to the use of server power and storage. This mechanism is called utility computing. PAYG is also known by other names such as Pay-Per-Usage, Pay-Per-Use or Pay-As-You-Us.
Uncover the Riches in the Clouds
The next facet of this automated delivery of IT and business services is the phenomenon called Cloud computing. In the past, users had only one way to run their applications or programs that is by using the services of their physical computers and servers present within the premises of their organization. But now, things have changed dramatically for the better because they can do that without setting up any extravagant infrastructure to run their applications/software. They can perform all their computation tasks, remotely, by going pay-as-you-go style. Cloud computing allows you to access your information via the high-speed internet connectivity, anywhere, and at any time.
For business and consumer communities, in terms of innovation, mobile access, immense computing power, and on-demand delivery, it is proving to be highly affordable and continues to be productive.
Some of the players in this space are:
• Amazon EC2, Flexiscale, GoGrid, Joyent, AppNexeus RightScale, ElasticServer
Enterprise-Class Business Model, For Everyone
A little bit more on cloud computing: Cloud Computing is an all-inclusive term that describes a wide scope of computing services. As a matter of fact, as with other critical improvements in technology many vendors have simply begun to use the expression “Cloud” for products that sit outside of the basic definition. However, in order to really understand how the Cloud can bring value to an organization, it is important to figure out what it truly is and its availability through the ‘as-a-service’ paradigm. Its virtual and “open” business architecture enables organizations and different stakeholders like business partners, customers, etc. to connect and move into the cloud to do business.
The Cloud is a broad collection of services that gives organizations the high flexibility to choose where, when and how they use the technology of Cloud solutions, usually referred to as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), and public, private or hybrid.
Now, let’s take a closer look at cloud pricing of cloud offerings. Cloud pricing is based on a fixed or a subscription-based pricing model: basically, a usage fee that allows customers/organizations/subscribers to purchase for a set payment for a specific period of time, typically on a monthly or annual basis. In the PaaS and IaaS models, however, a mix of billing for storage, server type, CPU usage, etc. is offered, for example, pay-as-you-go, monthly, quarterly, and annual. Move to the Cloud; make it a new business model for your organization and become more competitive.
Environmentally Friendly: Go Green Factor
Being energy efficient matters the most. Whether you have an internally hosted service or your requirement is outsourced to third-party cloud services providers, businesses can still be energy efficient either way. With cloud computing, be rest assured that you can save energy costs and contribute to a healthier planet by leaving a smaller carbon footprint.
Moving to the cloud isn’t exactly a selfish act. Creating sustainable solutions will make sure that our planet gets a little love too.