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Hardware Refresh
Never has the traditional, cyclical 'hardware refresh' strategy been under greater threat. Instead of replacing inefficient hardware every so often, IT managers today need to develop their roadmap for future cloud application deployment.
Statistics show that SME’s currently replace server hardware every 3-4 years on average. This is mainly because pushing physical servers beyond that time usually ends up costing a business more in increased hardware maintenance, loss of efficiency and individual component failure. This practice is set to change dramatically though as the advantages of Cloud Computing become more apparent, and its disadvantages overcome.
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Single-tasking, over-provisioning
Physical servers are computers that generally single-task, whether they’re an email server, database server or web server. This is because running multiple processes on them risks reliability and efficiency, as each process draws from the same pot of local resources. Physical servers are prone to over-provisioning – that is to say they are inherently inefficient as they often have excess processing capacity above what is used by a single application.
High Fixed Costs
Replacing physical server infrastructure involves significant upfront expenditure and a fixed-term contract, depending on how this is financed. Any long-term cost savings achievable through running a hardware server for a longer period than normal, are generally negated by the inefficiencies committed during the lifespan of the machine – i.e. costs savings which could have been reaped during periods of inactivity or when a project has come to a premature end, are not.
High Maintenance
Maintenance for physical machines is generally time-intensive and requires specific expertise. What’s more, if hardware completely fails, the nature of maintenance support contracts for physical servers means that repairs take more or less time depending on the care plan chosen at the beginning of the contract with a supplier. The upshot is, it can be very hard to put timescales on getting broken physical servers back online.
Obsolescence
Given the pace of technological development, servers just contracted can get out-of-date before reaching the data centres. Physical server hardware is continually having to keep a-pace with increasing demands for dynamic computing and continuously varying workloads, both of which it is not adaptable to.
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Multi-tasking, High Utilisation
Virtualisation was designed to overcome the limitations of physical hardware, as it enables multiple virtual-servers to be run on one physical platform. This segregation of data is the backbone of Cloud Computing. Moving business applications into the Cloud instead of purchasing new hardware, leads to greater flexibility and utilisation of computing power as resources are scaled to exact on-going requirements, and allocated as needed across multiple applications and services.
Pay-Per-Use
Paying only for the computing resources needed, when needed is the fundamental tenet of Cloud Computing. It means a simple monthly payment per user for virtual servers. By pooling application resources and maximizing server space through virtualisation, costs are reduced and savings can be passed on down the value chain. This has a much greater impact on operational costs than simply refreshing servers for the sake of lower power consumption or bandwidth.
No Maintenance
The costs for maintaining physical hardware are unavoidable when applications are deployed on-premise or in the data centre. With Cloud Computing, the service provider has sole responsibility for all maintenance and upkeep of the system and network.
Resilience
A professional Cloud platform will come with an up-time guarantee backed by a comprehensive Service Level Agreement which indemnifies the business in cases of downtime. They should also feature fully redundant power and connectivity, dynamic storage, intelligent workload management and certified organisational processes that provide users with a maximum uninterrupted service.
Licensing
The ability to pool application resources in the Cloud means businesses no longer have to purchase their own software licenses. Instead they pay for Software as a Service (SaaS) for a low monthly fee. Additional advantages are found in easy user scalability and seamless upgrading to the latest hosted version of a company’s business applications.
Is Cloud Computing Secure?
Despite its clear advantages, many companies that are considering adopting cloud computing raise concerns over the security of data being stored and accessed via the internet. What a lot of people don’t realise is that good vendors adhere to strict privacy policies and sophisticated security measures, with data encryption being one example of this. Companies can choose to encrypt data before even storing it on a third-party provider’s servers. As a result, many cloud-computing vendors offer greater data security and confidentiality than companies that choose to store their data in-house.
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Trends: Hardware vs Cloud Computing
- 80% – proportion of new commercial enterprise apps that will be deployed on cloud platforms in 2012. This percentage will rise as more startups launch using cloud-only platforms. [IDC]
- 60% – proportion of server workloads that will be virtualized by 2014. Businesses are under increasing pressure from customers to head to the cloud for their computing requirements – not only to improve business performance and efficiency, but also to keep up with trends in what other businesses are using. [Gartner]
- 7/10 – proportion of companies using cloud services that will move new applications to the cloud. Companies are transitioning into the cloud with small trials. Within a few years cloud service providers will see large growth in small “trial” testers transitioning all of their applications, and information, to the cloud. [Mimecast]
- x2 – rate at which IDC projects the market for enterprise servers will grow by 2013 [IDC]
- x1 – number of new servers added to the cloud for every 600 smartphones or 120 tablets. Conclusion – demand for server hardware will continue to be strong for foreseeable future in a Cloud context. An increasing number of hardware manufacturers will push their own private cloud services alongside Dedicated Servers. [AP]
- 60% – proportion of server workloads that will be virtualized by 2014. Businesses are under increasing pressure from customers to head to the cloud for their computing requirements – not only to improve business performance and efficiency, but also to keep up with trends in what other businesses are using. [Gartner]
- 80% – proportion of new commercial enterprise apps that will be deployed on cloud platforms in 2012. This percentage will rise as more startups launch using cloud-only platforms. [IDC]
