What is cloud computing?
Cloud computing explained: Cloud computing is the delivery of computing resources (storage, RAM, CPU, etc.) over the internet, and is usually billed on a pay-as-you-go basis. Companies that offer cloud computing technology are known as cloud service providers.
Cloud computing definition
Cloud computing is the increasingly common practice of providing ‘on-demand’ cloud services as IT infrastructure and resources. Over the past 20 years, the practice has evolved considerably, to the extent that cloud infrastructure solutions now account for more than a third of annual computer services spending worldwide. Public cloud, private cloud, and hybrid cloud systems have transformed the way organizations around the world - ranging from forward-thinking start-ups to global, enterprise-level companies - think about their IT infrastructures.
In the simplest terms, cloud computing is the practice of delivering IT services remotely, hosting them in one or more external data centers rather than through on-premises dedicated servers. Rather than purchasing and deploying the digital resources they require in-house, organizations can access them remotely via a cloud provider, on a pay-as-you-go basis.
So why are so many leading organizations powering their mission-critical IT resources via the cloud?
The advantages of cloud computing
Flexibility and agility
Thanks to cloud computing, it is possible for you (and your employees) to access files over the internet on online devices such as laptops and smartphones. It also makes it much
easier to organize data, as files can be stored, shared, and organized on a cloud-based network.
Cloud services are rented, often on a pay-as-you-go basis, so they can be agile to the demands of your business; dropping resources and acquiring new ones without hefty investment or over-allocation. This system helps ensure business continuity but at a lower cost.
Speed of deployment
The journey to the cloud is getting shorter every day. The path - from concept to production - has never been faster or smoother for the cloud user. With the ability to deploy new resources in just a few clicks, you can scale your cloud solutions up or down seamlessly. Better scalability enables businesses to expand infrastructure, accommodate traffic peaks, deploy and delete sandbox environments, and minimize overall time to market.
Cost control
As organizations grow, the ongoing cost of their operations and IT infrastructures must be considered, in terms of both current and future requirements. The cloud’s economies of scale are difficult to match, as there is no need to anticipate workloads and invest in resources that may only be required occasionally. With cloud service providers, you only pay for what you use, when you need it, whether this involves the technology that powers your products and solutions, the IT infrastructure your organization relies on each day, or the long-term storage of your sensitive databases.
Scalability
A digital transformation to the cloud offers unbeatable agility when it comes to scalability. Because the hardware for your solutions is fully managed externally; you are free to add or delete new resources remotely, potentially with a single click. This gives businesses more freedom to focus on how they will utilize architectures, rather than the deployment process.
Robust security
For too long, security was a serious concern for many organizations, which made them reluctant to migrate, either partially or completely to the cloud. However, cloud computing has evolved considerably over the years, in direct response to these concerns, with a range of cloud security solutions; such as leveraging secure private connections between your on-premises infrastructure and external datacentres now readily available, supported by sophisticated anti-DDoS protection and automated backups.
Freedom of location
Data location is important to consider when designing any infrastructure - not only to enhance the performance of sites and applications - but to gain certifications and fulfill compliance requirements (especially in light of regulations like the Cloud Act and GDPR!). Hosting resources securely, in external data centers means they can be located as close as possible to where your teams and end users are based and help to take all the stress out of achieving compliance.
The different types of cloud computing
The concept of cloud computing is essentially simple but moving to the cloud can involve numerous approaches – from the relatively simple to the highly sophisticated. These are the three most common cloud migration approaches (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS)…
Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)
By automatizing the building blocks of a world-class infrastructure, organizations at all levels maximize control of their costs, while simultaneously enjoying enhanced scalability and agility. By removing the need to deploy, manage, and maintain on-premises infrastructure, organizations increase their freedom to innovate. With IaaS, businesses rent out IT infrastructure - such as computing power, storage, and networking - from a cloud provider; but still oversee the management of their mission-critical applications, as well as their security systems, databases, and operating systems.
Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS)
With PaaS, teams are able to manage build, test, and deploy their own applications on a cloud-based platform that is designed to benefit the user. Any underlying IT infrastructure – such as hardware, and middleware – is managed by a trusted cloud service provider. Without the need to maintain infrastructure, internal IT teams can focus on business needs relating to their data and applications, freeing them up to drive sustained business growth.
Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)
With the SaaS model, software platforms are hosted externally, in the cloud. Users can access software over the internet, via a subscription. This frees organizations of the need to purchase, install, and update key software platforms while ensuring their key tools are accessible to teams around the world. With SaaS, the user only has to worry about managing their own data within an application, the software is handled in the cloud by an external provider.
How does cloud computing work?
For all three of the above use cases, there are several different deployment strategies, each with advantages specific to the cloud environment…
Hosted private cloud
The flexibility of the cloud combined with the raw power of dedicated resources. This allows businesses to deploy a high-performance virtual data center, while a cloud provider manages the hardware. This way, they enjoy the power and autonomy of a fully managed, dedicated solution, without the need to manage or maintain hardware – a perfect foundation for IT teams looking to optimize their utility.
Public cloud
On-demand cloud resources, offer everything you need to scale up from testing to full-scale deployment, with an excellent price/performance ratio and numerous opportunities to
scale. A public cloud approach is used to modernize organizations at all levels, from start-ups looking to launch their solutions as quickly as possible, to global organizations that require on-demand resources for specific projects and applications.
Hybrid cloud
A ‘best of both worlds’ cloud solution combining bare metal and cloud computing solutions - intelligently converged and integrated to maximize the advantages of both. For example, a cloud user might rely on a fleet of dedicated servers to power sites and applications, while utilizing the cloud to automate and streamline the storage of data. The possibilities are near-infinite.
OVHcloud offers a range of cloud computing solutions across our different product universes, covering all three approaches, and allowing you to build your virtual infrastructure however is right for your organization, your budget, and your long-term business goals. Please explore the different options for cloud adoption, and feel free to contact our Sales team, who will be more than happy to discuss your requirements in detail and offer advice on which cloud solutions will best suit them.
Flexibility and Agility
Thanks to cloud computing, it is possible for users to access files over the internet on devices such as laptops and smartphones. Cloud services also make it much easier to organise data, as files can be stored, shared and organised on a cloud-based network.
Cloud computing services are rented from a cloud provider (such as OVHcloud, AWS, Google, IBM, Oracle or Microsoft), often using a pay-as-you-go model, so they can be agile to enterprise customer demands, with the ability to drop resources and acquire new ones without hefty investment or over-allocation. This system helps ensure business continuity, but at a lower cost.
Speed of Deployment
A user’s journey to the cloud - from concept to production - has never been faster or smoother. With the ability to deploy new resources in just a few clicks, cloud computing enables users to scale their cloud services up or down seamlessly. The scalability offered by cloud computing enables businesses to expand infrastructure, accommodate traffic peaks, deploy and delete sandbox environments, and minimise overall time to market.
Cost Control
As an organization grows, the ongoing cost of its operations and IT infrastructure must be considered, in terms of both current and future requirements. Cloud computing’s economies of scale are difficult to match, as there is no need to anticipate workloads and invest in resources that may only be required occasionally. Using a cloud service provider, customers only pay for the cloud resources they use - whether this involves the cloud computing technology that powers solutions, the IT infrastructure an organization relies on each day, or the long-term storage of databases.
Scalability
Cloud computing offers unbeatable scalability. Because the hardware for cloud services is fully managed externally by the cloud provider, customers are free to add or delete new resources remotely, potentially with a single click. This core feature of cloud computing gives businesses more freedom to focus on how they will utilise architectures, rather than the deployment process.
Robust Security
For too long, security was a serious concern for many organizations, which made them reluctant to migrate, either partially or completely, to the cloud. However, cloud computing has evolved considerably over the years, in direct response to these concerns, with a range of cloud security solutions now available from cloud providers. Cloud computing enables businesses to leverage secure private connections between physical on-premises infrastructure and external datacentres, supported by sophisticated anti-DDoS protection and automated backups.
Freedom of Location
Data location is important to consider when designing cloud computing infrastructure - not only to enhance the performance of sites and applications, but to gain certifications and fulfil compliance requirements (especially considering regulations like the Cloud Act and GDPR). Hosting cloud computing resources securely, in external datacentres, means they can be located as close as possible to where an organization’s teams and end users are based and help to take all the stress out of achieving compliance.
What are the different types of cloud computing?
The concept of cloud computing is simple but moving to the cloud can involve numerous approaches – from the relatively straightforward to the highly sophisticated. These are the three most common cloud computing approaches (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS):
Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)
Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) is a popular cloud computing service model. It enables users to access virtualised computing resources over the internet, without the need for physical on-premises hardware. With IaaS, businesses rent out cloud computing infrastructure - such as computing power, data storage and networking - from a cloud service provider, but still oversee the management of their mission-critical applications, security systems, databases, and operating systems.
Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS)
Using the Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) cloud computing model, teams can manage, build, test and deploy their own applications on a cloud-based platform designed to benefit the user. Any underlying IT infrastructure – such as hardware and middleware – is managed by a cloud service provider. Without the need to maintain cloud computing infrastructure, internal IT teams can save time and focus on business needs relating to their data and applications, freeing them up to drive sustained enterprise growth.
Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)
With the SaaS cloud computing model, software platforms are hosted externally, in the cloud. Users can access software over the internet via a subscription model, which frees organizations of the need to purchase, install and update key software platforms. This also ensures their key tools are accessible to teams around the world. With SaaS, the user only needs to worry about managing their own data within an application, as the software is handled by the cloud service provider. This saves time and accelerates business efficiency.
How does cloud computing work?
For all three of the above cloud computing use cases, there are several different deployment strategies, each with advantages specific to the cloud environment, including:
Hosted Private Cloud
Hosted private cloud delivers the flexibility of cloud computing alongside the raw power of dedicated resources. This allows users to deploy a high-performance virtual data center or cloud instance, whilst the cloud service provider manages the hardware. This way, businesses enjoy the power and autonomy of a fully managed, dedicated cloud computing solution, without the need to manage or maintain hardware – a perfect foundation for IT teams looking to optimize their operations.
Public Cloud
Public cloud provides on-demand cloud computing resources, offering everything you need to scale up from testing to deployment, plus an excellent price/performance ratio. A public cloud approach can be used to modernize organizations at all levels, from start-ups looking to launch their solutions as quickly as possible, to global companies that require on-demand cloud computing resources for specific projects and applications.
Hybrid Cloud
Hybrid cloud delivers a ‘best of both worlds’ cloud service. It combines bare metal and cloud computing solutions, which are intelligently converged and integrated to maximize the advantages of both. For example, a cloud user might rely on a fleet of dedicated servers to power sites and applications, while utilizing cloud computing to automate and streamline the storage of data.
Multi-Cloud
With the multi-cloud approach, an organization deploys multiple clouds from multiple different vendors (e.g. OVHcloud, AWS, Google, Microsoft, IBM, or Oracle) within one infrastructure. These clouds will use one approach - usually public cloud or private cloud – and normally consist of PaaS or IaaS services. Multi-cloud deployments offer a range of benefits for organizations, such as reduced risk of downtime, low costs, and flexibility around licensing and adopting new technologies. It also enables organizations to choose the cloud services that best suit the needs of their business and customers.
What is cloud security?
Cloud security is the practice of leveraging technologies and procedures to protect the data, IT services, and applications hosted on a cloud computing network. With the cyber threat landscape evolving rapidly, all organizations utilizing cloud services must ensure that they incorporate cloud security into their cloud strategy to protect both their and their customer’s data, as well as to ensure compliance with data regulations.
To ensure their cloud computing network, services, and data are protected against external and internal threats, organizations can adopt a variety of cloud security solutions from their cloud provider. They can also implement measures and processes in-house. However, both the organization and the cloud provider have a shared responsibility for cloud security, as the provider will need to ensure that its data centers and infrastructure are secure, whilst the organization is responsible for controlling who can access the data and applications it stores in the cloud.
Here are some common cloud security solutions:
IAM solutions and procedures give IT teams visibility over which users can access the cloud computing network, including access to data and applications, and which devices are connected to the cloud network. Using IAM tools, an organization can implement policies and protocols to control who accesses the cloud computing network. Such tools also ensure organizations can remain compliant with data protection laws, including GDPR. Most IAM solutions involve creating an identity for each user, utilizing technologies such as Single Sign-On (SSO) and Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA). These tools enable users to access cloud computing services safely, whilst IT teams and organizations can monitor access and restrict it if necessary.
SIEM solutions gather and analyse security data from across the entire cloud computing infrastructure. This includes devices connected to the cloud network, servers, applications and more. SIEM tools collect data from all these places and analyse it to detect threats and unusual behaviour, enabling IT teams to investigate and respond to threats before they can wreak havoc on the cloud computing network. Most SIEM solutions use automated technologies, such as AI, to collate and analyse data from the cloud network, and offer a comprehensive view of the data and applications that have been accessed, so IT teams can build a clearer picture of how and when a malicious incident occurred.
This cloud security method involves using solutions to control access to the cloud computing network and devices connected to the network. With the rise in hybrid and remote working facilitated by cloud computing technologies, this method of cloud security is essential for many organizations, as employees work remotely on devices connected to the organization’s cloud network. An example of a network and device security solution is a Virtual Private Network (VPN), which creates a secure connection between the user’s device and the organization’s cloud network, using encryption to conceal data and IP addresses from potential attackers.
Cloud Solutions at OVHcloud
OVHcloud offers a range of cloud computing solutions covering all three approaches - hybrid cloud, public cloud and hosted private cloud. This enables you to build your virtual infrastructure in whatever way is right for your organization, budget, and long-term business goals. Please explore our cloud computing solutions below, and feel free to contact our sales team, who will be more than happy to discuss your requirements and offer advice on the right cloud services for you.