What is Cloud Computing and why does your small business need it?

http://www.hyphenet.com/blog/cloud-computing-for-your-small-business/

Cloud computing is a way to increase capabilities on the fly without investing in a new infrastructure, training new personnel, or licensing new software.

Small businesses benefit from Cloud computing by not having to deploy physical infrastructure like file and e-mail servers, storage systems or shrink-wrapped software.

Cloud computing is a broad umbrella that includes Software-as-a-Service where a specific application or service is offered to a customer as a subscription.  Dropbox, Salesforce.com, and QuickBooks are all examples of SaaS.

SaaS provides a way of delivering a host of software and technical services that would usually be cost-prohibitive and difficult to manage as on-premise, local solutions.

Cloud computing has come a long way and is now mainstream technology for businesses.

The cloud does for IT as UPS and Federal Express did for the shipping industry.

Cloud computing capabilities deliver a plethora of network technology.

Small businesses are most likely to not have an IT staff or technical in-house expert.  Some companies don’t even know how to ask about their company’s tech infrastructure.

Joining the cloud can help reduce these stress of all the IT stuff.

 

In The Cloud

The different types of models of cloud are: Public, private, community and hybrid.

• Public cloud is available to the general public over the Internet.  It’s a “game changer” for small businesses and gives them access to enterprise-level applications.
• Private cloud is within a corporate firewall.  It is reserved for larger companies that have their own IT staff and data centers.
• Community cloud is shared between different organizations.  It’s a multi-tenant infrastructure with a pay-as-you-go billing structure.
• Hybrid cloud is a combination of the three.  This cloud addresses configuration management, change control, security and budgeting.

SaaS (Software as a Service) is predominantly used for office productivity like email, work processing, number crunching, and online file sharing.

IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) functions like storage and computing.  It is used to store intellectual property like documents, drawings, applications and code proprietary to a business.

PaaS (Platform as a Service) is used to develop and run a website in the cloud or build applications.
There is a huge opportunity for growth of a small business when using cloud services.

Cloud computing encompasses subscription-based or pay-per-use service, that in real time or over the Internet, extends IT’s existing capabilities.

Cloud computing is still at an early stage, with a crew of providers large and small.  It delivers not only cloud-based services from storage to spam filtering but presents a utility-style infrastructure for your business.

Contact Hyphenet today to learn more about how to take your small business to the cloud.  619-325-0990

Don’t miss out on the latest tech news and computer security alerts! Follow us on Twitter at @hyphenet,  “Like” us on Facebook or add us to your circle on Google+.


References:
What Is The Cloud? (And Why Small Businesses Need To Care) – HuffingtonPost
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/06/amex-what-is-the-cloud-and-why_n_3964066.html
What cloud computing really means – Infoworld
http://www.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/what-cloud-computing-really-means-031?page=0,1
20 Top Cloud Services for Small Businesses – PC Magazine
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2361500,00.asp

Rackspace open door for open-source development

Rackspace is one of the few companies that takes open source software to an extreme.  Van Lindberg, Rackspace’s VP of Intellectual Property (IP), announced that Rackspace employees, Rackers, can “contribute to a project that is directly competitive with Rackspace.”

So if a ‘Racker’ decides to devote to Apache CloudStack, they can directly contribute to the project without question.

“This new policy will drive business opportunities for Rackspace and build leadership and expertise in our Rackers, also forcing us to focus on the services we pride ourselves on delivering.” – Van Lindberg

Rackspace has always been vocal about its commitment with the open cloud.  Now they are giving its’ employees the same benefits they offer to their corporate customers.  Free access to the marketplace of ideas and an open door to building on the innovations of others.

Lindberg stated that the company is changing its policy so that “Rackers are free to contribute and participate in any public open source project of their choice that has an established open-source license.”

In the past, Rackspace’s policy was that they had to check with the IP Committee/legal department prior to contributing.

To encourage the sharing and collaboration by contributing to open source projects, Rackers will be focusing on the services they deliver.

This new policy does have a couple discrepancies:

1. Rackers are encouraged to contribute on their own time, they can contribute during work hours but must first get approval from their manager.
2. If a Racker would like to contribute to a project that is competitive with Rackspace, they would like to know exactly why before anything is contributed.

Along with the collaboration and sharing, they can contribute to code, patches, tests, and documents even during work hours.

This will bring a closer more productive partnership, that builds leadership and expertise to the Rackers.
What do you think about this new policy?  Please give us your thoughts in the comments below!

Don’t miss out on the latest tech news and computer security alerts! Follow us on Twitter at @hyphenet,  “Like” us on Facebook or add us to your circle on Google+.

References:
Rackspace’s Policy On Contributing To Open Source – Rackspace Blog
http://www.rackspace.com/blog/rackspaces-policy-on-contributing-to-open-source/

Rackspace opens the door wide for open-source development – ZDNet
http://www.zdnet.com/rackspace-opens-the-door-wide-for-open-source-development-7000026021/