How to Start your Cloud Strategy 2021

When managing a data center, you tackle a number of things, including data security, scalability, and infrastructure maintenance. As an alternative to a traditional data center, many companies are deciding to migrate to the cloud. Before you make a decision evaluate which cloud infrastructure would work best. There are three basic cloud options: public, private or hybrid. Each infrastructure has its pros and cons. In this article, we provide an overview of the three cloud storage options.

The Public Cloud

The public cloud is a third-party hosted cloud computing environment. With the public cloud, you connect to your information via the internet. In this infrastructure, you usually pay a monthly fee for your usage. You can pay as you go, depending on your storage needs you can purchase more or less space. In addition to those features, your company would not be responsible for maintenance, repair or management, which can save your organization money. The disadvantage of this arrangement is you have no control over the physical data center. Earlier this year, Amazon Web Services’ servers crashed. The collapse left several big companies with no sites; customers were furious about the outage.

The Private Cloud

A private cloud gives you more control than the public cloud. The private cloud is an infrastructure you customize and manage. To secure the infrastructure, the system is set-up behind a firewall. The data center can be located on-premise or can be housed by a third party. One of the cons of the private cloud is the cost. With the private cloud, you pay to maintain the data center.

The Hybrid Cloud

The hybrid cloud is a combination of both the private and public cloud infrastructure. Some may see this choice as providing the best of both worlds. The customization of the hybrid cloud is up to you. One way to configure the infrastructure is to store your sensitive data on your private cloud. This configuration ensures only you have access to the information. Your less sensitive data could then reside in the public cloud. The infrastructure could also be set-up for organizations to use the private cloud for normal usage and access the public cloud for higher load requirements.

Once you decide which cloud infrastructure is the best suited for your organization you will need a secure way to retire your decommissioned IT equipment. Our company can help; Liquid Technology provides best-in-class IT asset management services. We specialize in supporting organizations that are moving to the cloud. To learn how we can help your organization see our Ad Tech case study.