Cloud computing is a simple concept.
In essence, it's the idea of having
services and resources delivered to you, on demand, without the
need for an infrastructure of your own. Cloudserve is a true
cloud computing services provider.
Whilst many providers sell their
customers static allocations of CPU, RAM and storage, we prefer to
offer our customers flexibility and truly dynamic IT by delivering
services based directly on their requirements.
What 'cloud' means in practice is
that the infrastructure and services you use are external to your
company. They are typically delivered securely over the internet,
so there's no need to worry about the management or components of
your IT platform. Instead, you get the services delivered to you,
and you can rely on the scalability and design of the cloud for
highly available, fully supported, state-of-the-art IT.
Cloud or 'on-demand' computing
allows you to access specific services or resources and then alter
them, on the fly, as your business requirements change. With
Cloudserve, this can be done with any of the services, from hosted
desktops to hosted Exchange and virtual servers. One minute you
might have 5 users, the next minute 7; one minute your virtual
server might have 4 CPUs, the next minute 8.
This model offers customers the
ability to buy resources on an incremental basis, on demand, as
their needs change. This also means you're only billed for what you
use, and you remain in control of how much you consume. Grid or
cloud computing computing offers customers the ability to access a
vast pool of computing resources, and to have them delivered as a
service, dependent purely on requirements and able to seamlessly
adapt to any changes in those requirements.
We utilise the hardware and
software components that comprise the grid with maximum efficiency
to provide our customers with a purely on-demand platform. They are
only billed for what they use, without the hassle of having to
pre-select resources or getting tied into excessive
commitments.
General 'cloud' benefits
Capital expenditure
With no capital expenditure
required, there's practically no barrier to entry. All
infrastructure is owned and maintained by ThinkGrid, so customers
don't need to purchase their own hardware for one-off or infrequent
intensive computing tasks.
Device and location independence
With a cloud, IT is no longer tied
to local hardware, meaning users can access systems regardless of
their location or what device they're using (e.g. PC, mobile
etc.).
Multiple Tenancy
•Cloud computing enables the sharing of resources - and
therefore costs - amongst a large pool of users. This allows
businesses to:
•Centralise their infrastructure, resulting in lower costs (e.g.
hardware, real estate, power etc.) and simplified management.
•Meet peak-load capacity increases. Because resources can be
added on demand, on the fly, customers don't need to over-subscribe
in order to provide for peak load levels.
•Increase efficiency and improve the utilisation of existing
systems that are often only running at 10-20% of their
capacity.
Reliability
Clouds are composed of multiple redundant sites, which makes
them perfect for business continuity and disaster recovery.
Scalability
Because clouds are, in essence,
vast pools of computing resources, they're hugely scalable,
allowing them to quickly meet changing user demands without having
to pre-provide or engineer for peak loads.
Security
Because all data is centralised in
the cloud, with its multi-site, redundant infrastructure, security
is massively increased.
Sustainability
Clouds allow businesses to maximise use of existing resources,
increase system efficiency and help meet carbon neutrality
targets.