The Advantages of Cloud Hosting and Cloud Virtualization

March 10, 2015

An increasing number of organizations are employing cloud computing. Cloud hosting is growing at a rapid pace as businesses look for more flexible ways to manage their infrastructure. What are the advantages of cloud hosting and cloud virtualization?

Virtualization is the process of separating work processes from the hardware itself. Compute, network, and storage resources are allocated as needed by the organization based on fluctuating demand. This is often done through the use of a hypervisor. It allows the use of multiple platforms, operating systems, and protocols.

Cloud Hosting

Cloud hosting is an on-demand service that provides resources to users through a dashboard or online portal. End-users or administrators can manage programs and platforms as needed. They access hard drive space, use software, allocate resources and other tasks through a dashboard or control panel.

Cloud hosting has multiple advantages. Rapidly growing startups or corporations do not have to worry about peak loads. Processing power can be easily expanded to accommodate seasonal changes, sudden demand, or other spikes of activity.

Quality cloud virtualization providers also employ a significant number of redundant servers to help maximize uptime. Few things will slow down business growth more than a website or service that is not available to customers. Redundant systems provide security in case a server goes out or other technical problems. Business operations can continue without interruption.

Concentrate on Strengths

Another advantage of cloud hosting is the hosting vendor takes care of all the maintenance and management of hardware. This frees up companies from the significant time investment of evaluating, testing, and purchasing new servers and other equipment. Instead, they can concentrate on growing their business.

In addition, cloud virtualization provides significant customization. Organizations can easily refine, alter, change, expand or contract their needs as the situations change. They can also employ multiple operating systems and scale up resources as needed. This lets them change their environment as requirements vary during a business cycle.

Cloud virtualization and cloud hosting provide flexibility, manageability, easy maintenance, and economical advantages to organizations of all sizes. They avoid the significant time investment of obtaining and maintaining hardware and software. Instead, they can focus on their core strengths of gaining new customers and growing revenue.

Simplify IT Management

One of the biggest benefits of cloud hosting is reduced infrastructure burden. Companies no longer need to buy, operate, and manage their own IT infrastructure. With a cloud model, a company can outsource all of its IT needs to a professional third-party service provider. This lets it focus instead on its core business mission. The model allows companies to eliminate much of the cost and complexity associated with an internal IT organization. It also gives them easy access to computing resources on an as-needed, pay-as-you-go model. Importantly, cloud-hosting providers make it easier for companies to comply with regulatory and industry-specific requirements.

Technology advances such as virtualization and blade server technologies have expanded hosting options. Cloud service providers can now offer a wide range of choices to companies. For instance, many cloud providers offer shared hosting services. These use shared hardware, software, and network resources to host applications from multiple companies. Shared hosting is often a very cost-effective option, especially for small and medium businesses that need access to IT resources. These businesses may not always be able to afford the cost of buying and managing their own hardware and software.

Flexible Hosting Options

In addition to shared hosting, many cloud providers offer dedicated hosting services. These host and manage a customer’s applications on separate, dedicated hardware and software platforms. A dedicated model is usually more expensive than shared hosting. It gives companies access to their own managed hardware and software resources. Many medium-sized and large companies use dedicated services for running their enterprise applications.

Some of the best cloud hosting services also offer colocation services. These let providers rent out space in their data centers for other customers to use. With colocation, a company installs its equipment at the service provider’s location. The provider then manages it on the company’s behalf. The colocation service provides the power, the network bandwidth, and the data center facilities. It also manages and administers the hardware for the customer.

The best cloud hosting services typically run highly secure, well-managed data centers. They offer high levels of service availability and stability. They typically maintain redundant hardware, software, network, and data center infrastructure. This helps ensure uninterrupted service if the primary data center experiences a failure.