The Case for Cloud Computing
In the setting of enterprise software programs, the existing software have generally been pretty complex and costly. They call for a corporation in Thermopolis to invest heavily on capital expenditure to construct an in-house data center with offices, temperature controls, electrical power, dedicated computers, storage disks, and network bandwidth. On top of all this costly computing equipment is the need for a complex software stack for the application. After the software has been written, you will also must have a staff of experts to set up, manage, and run the software. But that was before the advent of cloud computing.
Cloud computing is a method that uses the internet and centralized remote servers to manage applications and data. Cloud computing enables clients and organizations to make use of software applications with no installation and access their personal files at any computer with internet service. This innovation permits much more efficient computing by using common hard drives, memory, processing, and bandwidth.
Cloud computing is so efficient and low-cost that a well respected investment research newsletter has just dubbed it the "$59 computer." Of course there is not in fact an actual piece of hardware called the $59 computer -- it is merely a general term to refer to the basic idea of cloud computing being so affordable that making use of it can lower your company's computing expenses to the point where your total expenditures would be equivalent to spending only $59 per computer end user.
One vital fact that many IT departments ignore or underestimate is the T1 Line Bandwidth demands for supporting cloud computing. In one report, the chief information director of a insurance firm said he had to increase the company's network capacity by over 500 percent when they switched to one vendor's cloud computing product. This is not a guideline for every person, but it's a great case of what one company had to do. If you are planning to switch to a cloud computing solution, do yourself a big favor by first discussing your bandwidth needs with an independent T1 line consultant who can provide you all your possible options such as 10 Gig Ethernet service.
