Archive for September, 2012

Insight on How Cloud Hosting Works

Friday, September 21st, 2012

A few years ago, cloud hosting was introduced. Many companies have adopted this technology for providing hosting services to their clients. The client may not be aware of any differences from traditional hosting, but will benefit from the additional features. To see what exactly you are getting, it makes sense to learn how cloud hosting works.

A major difference is that instead of working interfacing with a single web server, a client interfaces with a virtual cloud. The cloud consists of a number of servers which collectively contribute to its performance. This kind of configuration is much more flexible to changing demands than a dedicated server.

As with traditional hosting, a client can subscribe to a public cloud or have his or her own private cloud. In the case of a public cloud, different people have their own allocated area. Even though it is shared, each allocated area cannot be accessed by unauthorized individuals. Customers are also able to apply for a private cloud. In this instance, only the client has access.

In the past, most hosting packages had extremely strict conditions. Each user had a specified amount of disk space. A maximum amount of bandwidth usage was also allowed. These limitations were strictly enforced and the user was heavily penalized when these were exceeded. When users wanted an upgrade, it often come with a sharp increase in subscription as well. These barriers are often not as strictly enforced with cloud hosting.

When individuals apply for cloud hosting services, it often comes with unlimited disk space and bandwidth. Cloud hosting is extremely flexible regarding the addition of resources. Servers can be added or removed from an existing cloud with ease. This makes it possible to change storage space and bandwidth with ease. In addition, this technology has brought down the price that people pay per unit.

Throughout the day, there is a great variation in the volume of Internet traffic. This influences overall performance. During periods when the Internet volume is at high levels, web hosts had a limited amount of bandwidth at their disposal to offer users. They have the ability to commission another server to the cloud with ease, so that they are able to deal with the increased demand. This can often be achieved without any noticeable difference to their subscribers.

One of the big advantages is that it is possible load applications to areas of the cloud where all users have access. Anybody with access to the Internet will be able to use these applications. Files will be stored in secure areas requiring authorization.

Businesses have another added advantage. In many aspects they can replace their LAN with a cloud. When they add their software requirements to their cloud, they have an environment for doing work from any location where they are able to access the Internet.

When one looks at how cloud hosting works, it is obvious that it provides a great mobile environment. All that is needed is a connection to the Internet. With such a connection it is possible to surf the Internet or do your work from wherever you are.

 

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25 Best Hosting Companies

Tuesday, September 18th, 2012

Blogging.org put out a fabulous article on the 25 Best Hosting Companies in the World for bloggers.  They have polled 5600 of the top bloggers in the online industry to put together the best list ever.

There are tons of great hosting companies out there.  You can view the full list that Blogging.org has put together here.

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Smart Hosting: Plug Into The Cloud

Friday, September 14th, 2012

Increased speed. Improve efficiencies. Achieve agility. Reduce costs. For years, those have been the big promises of most IT initiatives, and also the big IT benefits of cloud hosting. The term “cloud hosting” has come to mean many things to IT people.

We defined cloud hosting as a set of pooled computing resources delivered over the internet, or a network-resident capability delivered over the internet. This cloud-based hosting service delivers a hosting environment that doesn’t limit an application to a specific set of resources, depending on the platform; an application can scale dynamically and increase its share of resources on-the-fly. The consumption-based model is a cost-effective way to leverage a cloud hosting service, companies only takes on expense for service they use, instead of planning, building and deploying a costly IT infrastructure. This cloud hosting service allows companies to match revenues to expenses. With cloud hosting, companies can increase their capacity to accommodate higher demands on their sites, and also run massive, complex computational models. This kind of business strategy allows companies to be innovative and agile without building a costly IT infrastructure or throwing a heavy investment in new hardware or services.

From infrastructure to storage to applications, moving a major part of the company’s IT environment to the cloud means moving investment from a capital expense to an operating expenses, this could result in freeing up capital for revenue-generating projects. Cloud hosting is often cheaper and less labor-intensive for companies; it’s a game-changing technology. There is no need to acquire, deploy, install and maintain expensive software because it’s already installed online remotely and companies run it from there, not to mention the fact that many cloud-based applications are offered free of charge, and the  need to pay for extensive disk space is also removed. With cloud hosting, companies subscribe to the hosting service, rather than buying it outright or putting a huge investment for IT infrastructure, this also means that companies only need to pay for it when you need it, and it also offers flexibility, in that it can be quickly and easily scaled up and down according to demand. This kind of business-model can be particularly advantageous when there are temporary peaks in demand, such as at Christmas or special tech events.

Another major advantage of choosing cloud hosting services for many companies is that because it’s online, it offers virtually unlimited storage compared to server and hard drive limits. Needing more storage space does not cause issues with server upgrades and equipment – usually all the companies need to do is increase its monthly fee slightly for more data storage.

Finally, there is no need to take on specialist IT staff to handle IT infrastructures’ administration, and companies don’t have to worry about maintaining and upgrading software or fixing bugs, as all maintenance is done by the cloud hosting providers. This frees-up in-house IT department to focus on technical issues specific to the business. IT remote maintenance means it’s easy for businesses to always have the latest and most powerful version of any particular software.

Cloud hosting can be an extremely cost-effective and beneficial way for large and small international companies. The scalability of cloud hosting service provide an easy ways for firms to start small and try certain applications out to see how it works for them and their business before gradually expanding their use.

 

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