INFRASTRUCTURE AS A SERVICE

In our last blog, we saw about the basics of Cloud Computing, what it is and how it benefits companies and individuals on a larger scale. Now, let us see about one of its dedicated platforms – Infrastructure as a Service.

Companies realized that there is a lot of potential for content creation and real-time data analytics amongst today’s technological development and the availability of skilled people all over the world. But, how do they process the data and do the work without incurring heavy investment costs upfront to set up their digital infrastructure? Many small businesses and even well-established companies struggled to properly set up and maintain their on-premise systems. This fuelled the need for cloud systems.

They are essentially a platform from which an individual or a firm can rent out a computer system with an operating system of their choice for a small monthly/yearly payment. The service will be provided in a web-accessible version or with an integrated application as per the company’s preference and you will be having a full-blown desktop at your disposal.


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But, why do we need this? This is the only question that strikes everyone when they hear about the availability of this service. There are many businesses and start-ups which solely rely on computing horsepower to deliver their workload. They might not have such huge investments to set up their infrastructure locally. Also, if there are any power outages or network disruption, their whole business comes to a standstill.

This is where cloud service providers step in. They design and maintain (essentially doing all the heavy lifting for us) server-grade and redundant compute systems that are designed to run 24x7 and are also capable to withstand heavy workloads by distributing the processes amongst various regions. The availability does not stop there. These systems are made to be elastic. Again, not in the literal sense but, when your workload increases, they expand the availability of hardware resources to cover the additional load.

As an example, if you are using a cloud system with a dual-core CPU and a gig of RAM, you will not be able to run more than 10 browser windows in Google Chrome smoothly. Hence, you can opt for a higher spec version of your cloud instance without any hassle or even stop the current one in some cases.



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Imagine having this much level of flexibility and the power to scale up and reduce as and when needed, you will be able to process tasks much easier and efficiently when compared to setting up additional hardware and networks by yourself while also ensuring network security and integrity. The notable players in this industry are Amazon’s AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, and Alibaba Cloud. 

So, am I implying that there are no downsides to this? Definitely not. The implementation which is being done currently along with the actual pricing for the service by itself is not affordable to most people. 

Also, many service providers do not disclose the exact details regarding their infrastructure setup and the network access details upfront unless you subscribe or pay for one of their plans. But, if you consider all of the added advantages, we can conclude that opting for cloud service is the way for a scalable future.