Great Connections for Spring 2018

6 SPRING 2018 Let’s Clear Up Some Confusion If you work in the IT Department or consider yourself a techie, you can probably skip this article. But we thought the rest of you out there might appreciate clarification on some commonly confused terms in our industry. What’s the difference between cloud computing and hosted services? Or the difference between shared bandwidth and dedicated bandwidth? You’re about to find out. Cloud Computing vs Hosted Services According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the essential characteristics of cloud computing are: • On-demand self-service. People can access computing capa- bilities, such as server time and network storage, as needed automatically without requiring human interaction with each service provider. • Broad network access. Capabilities are available over the net- work and accessed through devices including mobile phones, tablets, laptops and workstations. • Resource pooling. The provider’s computing resources are pooled to serve multiple users. Examples of resources include storage, processing, memory and network bandwidth. • Rapid elasticity. Capabilities can be rapidly scaled, in some cases automatically, to meet changing demand. • Measured service. Cloud systems automatically control and optimize resource use by leveraging a metering capability appropriate to the type of service (e.g., storage, processing, bandwidth and active user accounts). With hosted services, by contrast, the hosting provider takes care of all the server-related issues. The business not only rents the hardware from the host, but also pays the host to manage it. Hosted services enable businesses to reduce IT costs while increasing the efficiency, utilization and flexibility of their existing computer hardware. Hosted services could include hosted virtual desktops, hosted virtual servers, hosted email, online backup, disaster recovery and hosted VoIP. Hosted services are often combined with cloud services. Marrying virtual desktops and the cloud, for example, provides flexibility. For the business, it makes moving locations, adding new offices or adding new employees much easier since IT resources aren’t tied to a specific location and services can be delivered to any device. Another benefit is the fact that business continuity is built in. Since the IT resources are not located at a company location, any disaster or disruptive event at the company doesn’t stop the business from operating. The shifting of non-critical IT functions to an outside provider also frees up internal resources to focus on the organiza- tion’s core business. There’s no need to be foggy on cloud computing (or other terms) anymore