Flexible, Adaptable, Scalable…
Cloud services are the biggest change in solutions provision in the last decade of IT.
With Cloud services certain applications or the entirety of your IT systems are run from a datacentre. This can either be with a major, public provider or with a private hosting company such as ION Systems. Depending on your requirements it may also be a mixture of the two options which gives a hybrid solution.
It is these options that generate the different cloud services descriptions you may have heard – Public, Private or Hybrid Cloud.
Prior to Cloud the only option for systems provision was to use a server or servers, based next to you in your office. These provided everything from files and email to specialist applications used by your business.
This traditional approach is now rarely the best option. Running some or all of your applications from the Cloud offers a number of benefits:
- Availability
- Cloud applications are not tied to your Office Internet line or other infrastructure. All you need is a working Internet connection at your location and you have access to your systems.
- Systems running cloud services are designed to be highly available. Using solutions which are usually unaffordable to most businesses allows for greater resiliency against faults and outages.
- Flexibility
- Cloud applications, especially on public providers, are built on systems which can cater for a huge number of potential users
- By using these systems you can add 10, 100, 1000 or even more users to your service without having to upgrade any on site hardware or servers
- Security
- Cloud services use the latest in systems security option to keep your data safe.
- ION advise and help to ensure that all of your systems utilise the available security to make sure the only people with access to your data are those who are supposed to!
- Disaster Recovery
Traditional systems are very prone to long outages should a disaster strike. Whether it is a failing of an important server, a malware attack or a physical disaster such as flood or fire the reliance on an office based server means that data and applications are going to be offline.
Managed backups coupled with spare server hardware, as provided by ION Systems, mitigate this to some degree but downtime will occur.
With Cloud applications the loss of a central site is less painful. As the data and applications are in the Cloud, an alternative site such as a Regus building or even working from home are legitimate options to keep things running.
This removes the panic and allows the business to continue operating whilst the disaster is dealt with.
To find out more about any of our services, please call us on 01635 888800
