by Stefani Laszko

According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology “cloud computing is a model for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources….. that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.”  Quite a mouthful. The term “cloud computing” may be new to you, but it’s a concept that’s been around since the 1960’s and you are already using it. Are you on Facebook? Do you have a Gmail, Hotmail or Yahoo email account? If you answered yes to either, you are already using cloud technologies.

Much like other areas of technology, what was once only for enterprise level companies, cloud computing is now cost effective for the small to medium size business and it will bring you flexibility, availability and increased security. Two of the most common resources to virtualize (or take to the cloud) are servers and desktops.

Server virtualization brings many new capabilities such as increased horsepower, disaster recovery, improved security, instant scalability and zero capital expenditure. By moving to a virtual cloud server infrastructure you gain the ability to upsize / downsize as your business needs dictate. By partnering with a hosted cloud services provider you will be virtualizing your server within a world class, highly available secure data center giving the highest level of disaster recovery capability and security available.

Desktop virtualization, utilizing the same data center facilities as virtualized servers, allows you to squeeze every last penny invested in existing desktop equipment. Hosting your desktop in a virtual environment pushes the actual computer processing out to the cloud, leaving your physical desktop computer to act just as a keyboard, mouse and monitor for use on the virtualized desktop.  New desktops can be deployed with very cost effective low-end PCs or thin clients.

All in all, cloud technologies aren’t something new but instead are a better way of deploying what you already have or what you may need. Premise based technologies not only require significant capital expenditure, they are also based on yesterday’s technology practices. Leverage your cloud partner’s infrastructure to ramp up your capabilities as your business dictates. You don’t need an umbrella to join us in the cloud!

Mythos Technology is an IT consulting and management firm that provides Managed Services including hosted cloud solutions. For more information, please visit www.mythostech.com or call (951) 813-2672.

Posted in IT Consulting