Advantage 1: Flexible payment
As a rule, clients pay for the cloud using the «pay-as-you-go» model. The architecture of the solution is the main reason behind this, since users can change the configuration of the cloud at any moment using the dashboard. As a consequence, you cannot accurately predict how much the total is going to be, say, per month.
This circumstance lets clients only pay for the resources the company is currently using. For example, if your business works with seasonal traffic surges, you can turn on the additional resources for the peak period and turn them off afterwards. This way, the company gets the computing power for the task and doesn’t need to overpay when it is no longer needed. This is impossible when it comes to physical infrastructure, which is provided with a fixed price tag.
Advantage 2: High scalability
The public cloud is scaled without the need to buy new equipment and manually install it in an on-premises data center. You can add CPU cores, RAM or storage space to the virtual machines whenever you need. The resources are also provided through remote access; the cloud’s hardware base is stored in the provider’s data center.
This advantage of public clouds will be especially useful for small companies that are unable to expand their IT capabilities by purchasing expensive hardware. The public cloud can be scaled as the business grows and be instantly adjusted to fit the task at hand. This is much more cost-effective and fast compared to a dedicated server. If you need to scale a physical server, you will have to buy new components and replace the old ones.
Advantage 3: The provider takes care of maintenance
When you rent a cloud, you no longer need to buy equipment or software; this becomes your public cloud provider’s responsibility. The provider is also responsible for all the conditions necessary for the infrastructure to function, such as security and cooling systems, power, redundant components etc. This way, your company spends less on IT and saves time.
This benefit of the public cloud is also true of dedicated server rental. However, if the company’s infrastructure is deployed on-premises, there will be additional maintenance costs. If you want to rid your business of these expenses while taking full advantage of public cloud benefits, rent a public cloud.
Advantage 4: Short-term investment
More often than not, it’s hard to estimate long-term computing power needs when a business is at its early stages of development. In such cases, it is advisable to avoid solutions that need large investments, such as on-premises deployment or long-term rental of another infrastructural solution.
The public cloud solves this issue with its payment model: the client only pays for the resources that are currently being used. This way, the client’s business avoids long-term contracts and investments while working with a scalable and efficient computing platform.
Advantage 5: Global availability
The public cloud is a quick and affordable way to store data in any country in the world. For example, if a company needs to minimize latency for its services, all it has to do is pick a provider that stores the cloud in your country of choice. This can also be used to store data in a preferred jurisdiction. For example, SIM-Cloud is deployed in a data center in Germany, where the law guarantees protection against illegal seizures.
Setting up your own data center in another country is a difficult and expensive task. Besides the question of logistics, the company will have to figure out the specifics of the country’s legislature. If you use a cloud solution, your business will no longer have to solve this issue; the provider has already taken care of everything for you.
Advantage 6: High stability
The cloud is a fault-tolerant solution on the architectural level. If a component fails, the virtual machine will use the computing power of another server. This will not affect the functioning of services in the cloud and the systems will stay up. Reliable providers also use redundant components in the cloud. This significantly lowers the risk of critical failures.
Availability zones can be used for additional fault tolerance. An availability zone is an isolated segment of the cloud which uses:
- independent computing instances;
- separate power & cooling systems;
- network connections etc.
By deploying its systems in 2 availability zones, a company can increase the stability of its services by a factor of 2.
