WHAT IS “THE CLOUD”
The Cloud can be defined in many different ways. The concept of “The Cloud” is a near infinite number of computers all around the planet providing information, and services to other computers and people.
That definition is a bit nebulous so I’d like to define it in a way that makes sense to businesses. To do this I’ll break it down by types of services that business use day to day with a discussion of those same services offered in the cloud.
Businesses typically need the following computer services;
- Domain Services: Security control using Microsoft Active Directory for users to login and out of their computers.
- Network Services: These are under the cover services that keep your computers talking to each other such as; DNS, TCPIP, DHCP, VLAN’s VPN’s, etc.
- File and Print Sharing for storing and sharing documents across the network. An example of this service is your business PC having a mapped drive to a shared folder on a server on your network. There are three different types of sharing;
- In House Sharing, my example in the above paragraph
- Remote Sharing: Let’s say you’re at your house and want to view files and documents on your business network.
- Any Device Sharing: Business is doing lots of work on their smart phones. Having access to your business network significantly improves productivity.
- Server Application Services: Those applications that businesses use in their day to day operations
- Financial Application such as QuickBooks
- Email Services such as Microsoft Exchange or Synology Email Server
- Specialized custom developed business applications
- Desktop Application Services: Those applications on everyone’s desktop to get their job done and keep their computers protected
- Microsoft Office; Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook
- Adobe Acrobat
- Messenger Servicers; Lync, Slack, Team, etc.
- Network and PC Security Services
- Intrusion Protection
- Patch Management
- Web Application Filtering Services
- Antivirus,
- Firewall Services
- Email Filtering Services
- Document and Email Retention Services
- Backup Services
- Local Backups
- Off-Site Backups
- Cloud Backups
Today, most of these services are run locally at the business location. In the future and today, when does it make sense to migrate these services to a cloud service?