Today’s hyper-competitive markets pose a myriad of challenges to corporate leaders in companies of all sizes, primarily based on how to achieve the best results with the most prudent investments. In New Jersey, cloud hosting companies can offer answers to virtually every cloud computing query, including why the cloud beats out on-premise solutions every time.
Clarifying Cloud vs. On-prem
The best way to differentiate between cloud and on-prem computing is to understand the relative size of the capacity each can offer. In the computer, capacity is measured in terms of “bytes.” One byte is the volume of capacity needed to store a single text character. Added volume is offered in increasing volumes of bytes, measured in multiples of 1,024: a kilobyte (KB) is 1,024 bytes; a megabyte (MB) is 1,024 kilobytes; then gigabytes (GB), terabytes (TB), petabytes (PB) and finally exabytes (EB).
The larger the capacity, the more computing opportunity is available. As examples, one TB is equal to over a trillion bytes (1,099,511,627,776 B’s), and one EB equals the capacity of 763 billion floppy disks. Because cloud servers contain multiples of EB’s, they can manage the computing demands of millions of users without failing or crashing. New Jersey cloud hosting enterprises offer their customers the computing capacity contained in their cloud-based servers, which can provide multi-petabytes of capacities, so their hosted clients always have access to the exact volume of capacity they need.
On-prem computing capacity, on the other hand, is limited to the size of hard drive and memory capacities of on-prem servers. Each byte of that capacity has a price tag that covers its acquisition, installation, maintenance, upgrades and replacement. Consequently, the cost of creating and maintaining an on-prem system often limits the size of a typical computing environment for organizations that rely solely on an on-prem configuration.
Best Benefits of Cloud Computing
While there are uncountable numbers of benefits to accessing cloud-based services, there are several overarching themes that underscore virtually all of them.
Consistency
The cloud provides many of the same programs as are offered in on-prem versions, but because of the size and complexity of the cloud itself, those functions are enhanced and improved. Customers see the same visuals and perform the same activities as they did before, but have new access to additional features that are available only through the cloud-hosted servers.
Flexibility
Cloud-based servers owned or managed by New Jersey cloud hosts can be configured to meet the exact specifications of their client’s computing demands. In the onboarding process, customers may need to change the way they access the services but they will still be able to address their usual business activities, and the company will continue to function as it did previously. When those corporate functions need to change, however – if the markets shift or the company merges with another organization, as examples – the cloud can be almost instantly reconfigured to meet those added demands. This level of flexibility is not available in an on-prem configuration without significant added investment in that infrastructure.
Reliability
There are new reports of cybercrimes – attacks on corporate servers – every day, and keeping up defenses against those threats is an ongoing requirement (and expense). New Jersey cloud hosting companies assume the burden of maintaining those vigilant activities so their data security efforts are usually always better than any one company can maintain within an on-prem setup. Additionally, New Jersey cloud hosting enterprises offer both redundancy and disaster recovery services to help their clients stay in business after the attack and during the recovery period. The redundant programming provides access for duplicating processing capacities when the main servers are knocked out of service, so business can go on as usual. The disaster recovery systems repair the breaches and set up new defenses to prevent those breaches from occurring in the future.
The growing popularity of the cloud is an indicator that more companies are turning to New Jersey cloud hosting companies to maintain their current market share and edge.
Drawbacks to Cloud Computing
Nothing is 100 percent perfect, and cloud computing isn’t perfect either.
Required Connectivity
Because customers connect with their cloud-based services through the Internet, they lose that access when there is no Internet service available. This concern may be greater for smaller companies that rely on community-based Internet services to provide their connections for them. Larger companies have the resources available to contract with Internet service providers that ensure a reliable and consistent Internet connection all the time.
Cost Control
New Jersey cloud hosting also costs money; customers pay for the number of users that access the cloud and the volume of computing availability that the corporation consumes. Those expenditures accrue on an ongoing basis. Smaller enterprises may not need the scope or flexibility of the cloud to maintain their market share and can save money by investing in the smaller volume of computing capacity held in their on-prem environment.
Trust
Cloud customers must trust their cloud hosts with their most sensitive proprietary information, whether that’s contained in the patent records or consumer databases. Not all cloud hosts are the same and some don’t manage data security as well as is needed. Consequently, assessing the security services offered by New Jersey cloud hosting companies is imperative to ensure that cloud computing remains safe and reliable in the future.
When balancing cloud vs. on-prem computing capacities, it becomes clear that New Jersey cloud hosting firms offer both New Jersey and New York-based companies computing solutions to the challenges they face today and will face tomorrow.
