COMPANY

Everyone is talking about it and more and more companies are opting for it, yet most people still have only a vague concept of what cloud computing is. What are the pros and cons of this IT solution, and, more importantly, is it relevant for your company? Filip Goos, Managing Director of Cheops, explains all.

Traditionally, IT networks have consisted of hardware plus software and data that run on the user’s server. Cloud computing completely does away with this familiar concept. Users no longer have to own the software and hardware they require to carry on their activities since they can now hire in the services of an external data centre as and when they require.

“A number of major benefits are associated with cloud computing,” Filip Goos explained. ”First, cloud computing offers a rapid return on investment (ROI). Investments are recouped after just 6 months on average. Plus the system is highly scalable - in other words it is very easy to expand or reduce your capacity. Because of this, the ‘computing power’ you need is available immediately. Besides enabling you to work very flexibly, it also means that you only pay for the things you actually need. Essentially, what it boils down to is maximum IT capacity for the minimum cost.”

“Cloud computing is interesting for all organizations, large or small,” Filip Goos continued. “Large organizations have the critical mass and budgets that is needed in order to construct their own private cloud, while SMEs can use public clouds and benefit from the economies of scale offered by cloud service providers. These economies of scale mean that technology such as replication and disaster recovery, which used to be exclusively the preserve of large organizations, is now available to SMEs. It is therefore reasonable to assume that SMEs will turn out to gain the most from this trend.”

Clouds come in different types and can be divided into three categories:

• Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), which involves offering external computing power and storage capacity. The infrastructure is usually supplied in a virtualized form.
• Platform as a Service (PaaS) goes further, offering additional services such as integration, portal functionalities and access management on top of the basic infrastructure. The customers that purchase PaaS services are usually professional suppliers of SaaS services.
• Software as a Service (SaaS), which is at the top end of the cloud value chain. SaaS service providers manage all aspects of the application. Often the user can make few, if any, changes. The textbook example of SaaS is Salesforce.com, the well-known online provider of CRM solutions. Other examples include Skype and Facebook.

As a systems integrator, Cheops offers both IaaS and SaaS solutions. With regard to IaaS, they provide the IT infrastructure, which chiefly involves hosting virtual servers (referred to as Virtual Private Servers in the industry).
 
“We have been offering SaaS solutions for a considerable time in areas such as managed e-mail security (security in the cloud), online backup, remote monitoring and hosted exchange services, and enjoyed great success. Cheops currently provides these services to more than 250 customers,” Filip Goos said in conclusion.