Monday, August 29, 2011

The Flexibility of Cloud Services

A true breakthrough in business IT solutions, cloud services are steadily being adopted by a growing number of businesses wishing to benefit from their flexibility, accessibility and cost effectiveness. The ease with which they can be integrated with existing IT infrastructures has been an influential factor in their widespread implementation.
Many large and long established businesses have understandably kept their existing in-house servers, unwilling to completely change their business IT infrastructure, while utilising storage for specific tasks. Rather than replace their existing storage network, businesses have turned to the cloud as a way to complement their existing storage network, which it can do in a number of ways.
Cloud storage is particularly useful for data archiving. The huge amount of sensitive data a business must handle securely and efficiently calls for an excellent data archiving and storage system. Cloud storage within a private cloud is a great choice with a reputable provider as it is the external provider who takes control of the data archiving, backup and protection.
Having the data stored securely offsite means a reduction in the hardware upgrades and expansion needed to handle the ever growing data files in-house. This makes storing data within a cloud very cost effective, removing the cost of maintaining on-premise storage capability and capacity. Cloud services also free up time for IT department s to focus on in-house issues.
Of course, cloud storage can also be used in the reverse way to the example given. A business may elect to store their most sensitive mission critical data using their in-house server, while archiving the less crucial and sensitive data using an external cloud storage provider. There really is complete flexibility regarding the integration of cloud storage with a business' existing IT infrastructure.
As with cloud storage, cloud computing can be integrated with existing legacy computing systems, with only selected applications being delivered by the external service provider, such as business email for example. Again, the more mission critical applications can be entrusted to a reputable service provider, or they can be kept in-house while the service provider delivers less sensitive and important applications.
Having applications requiring enhanced accessibility, such as business email, delivered by an external cloud service provider is a sound decision, as the online cloud platform can easily be accessed using a wide range of hardware from anywhere across the globe.
Cloud services are here to stay and every forward thinking company should consider how cloud storage or computing could benefit their business.
Next Connex specialise in bespoke data centre solutions, desktop virtualisation & cloud services for businesses throughout the UK, leading the way in the next generation of data storing and connectivity. For more information on the range of services available from Next Connex visit http://www.nextconnex.com/

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