Posts Tagged ‘Cloud Computing’

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PRIMER: How are Disaster Recovery and Backups Different?

April 16th, 2013
Posted by: Donna Hemmert

So, you are working through your go-forward IT strategy and need to make sure that you have things covered should something go wrong. Pretty quickly, you notice that the terms “Backup” and “Disaster Recovery” are quite often being used interchangeably. But, the truth is, they are different. Related, yes, but different.

Backup

Backup really can be defined very simply. Backup is just a copy of your files on another disk (or tape, cloud, etc.). In fact, if you copied each and every file to a DVD (and we are not sure why you would do that), that would be a backup. Having a full backup that is up-to-date means that when you lose a few files or a whole drive or more, you can take the time it takes to copy those files back once your systems are ready to rock. But, it can be a time-consuming disruption. You will likely need to setup a new server(s), re-install the OS, and reinstall all the applications, etc. There are two ways to backup your systems:

  • Onsite Backup: This is when you backup locally to some kind of physical storage option. These solutions are capable of imaging servers and storing data locally so you can recover from incidents.
  • Offsite Backup: This is when you backup your data to an entirely different location. This, of course, helps protects you in the case of an entire geographic location being affected by a disruption. Also, often organizations need offsite backup to be in line with compliances such as those rules defined by Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA, FISMA, NASD and NYSE, etc.

Disaster Recovery

So, what is Disaster Recovery? Disaster recovery is beyond backup. The big benefit of disaster recovery is that rather than taking what may be days or months to recover for an unplanned outage, Disaster Recovery will greatly shorten that time.

With Disaster Recovery, a complete image of your disk drives and servers are mirrored. This is sometimes referred to as a “bare-metal” backup, meaning the backup isn’t just the files, but the OS and everything. For example, with AISN’s Disaster Recovery service, we replicate the “bare-metal” backup image to another geographic site so in the event of a disaster in one geographic location, it can be restored from an entirely different geographic location. This gives you added protection and the image(s) allows you to restore systems more quickly – there is no need to reinstall an OS and copying files. The amount of time it takes to actually continue operations after a disaster also depends on whether you choose “Hot Site” or “Cold Site.” So what is the difference?

  • “Hot Site”: Environments are available at a moments notice. So, in the case of an outage, all data processing can quickly be moved to the “Hot Site” and operations continue.
  • “Cold Site”: Critical applications are available at a secondary location. This is similar but is supplied as basic office space, but with “Cold Site” the customer provides and installs all the equipment needed to continue operations. It is less expensive but will take longer for full operations to continue.

So, that’s really all there is to it from a high level. You really need to understand what your goals and objectives are. Do you need systems available in minutes, hours or would days be just fine? Is backup just fine, or do you need Disaster Recovery? And what level of Disaster Recovery do you need? There are lots to consider, but remember, we are always here to help you think through your IT plans.

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Understanding Cloud Deployment Models

November 27th, 2012
Posted by: Donna Hemmert

By Donna Hemmert
AIS Network Vice President, Strategic Development

Public Cloud, Private Cloud or Hybrid Cloud?  Which one is for me?

First of all, let’s define the Cloud.  A Cloud is a consolidation of hosted computer services (storage, computing power) and is delivered as a service.

Cloud services are often fully managed by the provider and are usually sold based on usage (for example, per hour or even by the minute). One of the main benefits of the Cloud is that it is elastic, allowing organizations to use as much resources as they need.  They can easily add or reduce those services without the need to deploy equipment.  This can be really useful in situations where companies have a project (for example, a development project or marketing promotion that requires a special new temporary website) or their business has a lot of associated seasonality (i.e., they need more computing resources for the Christmas season).  In that case, a company can call a company such as AISN and simply request another “virtual machine” or more storage.

Many of our customers like the cloud model also since they don’t have to put out upfront capital for equipment and software, but instead can pay a set amount each month.  It’s more predictable and it is captured as an operational expense, which can be beneficial.

As for the deployment models, here are the main types of Cloud:

  • Public Cloud is a cloud that is available to all customers and these customers share the resources of the cloud.  Examples of public clouds are Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure  and Google Cloud.
  • Private Cloud allocates resources to be used solely by your organization from a shared infrastructure.  Your data is stored in dedicated, segregated silos.  With Private Cloud, adding more storage or CPU is easy and often instantly available.
  • Dedicated Private Cloud is a cloud infrastructure built solely for your organization’s use – with all services and hardware dedicated to your organization.  Some organizations prefer dedicated private cloud for additional security but the down side is that there are reduced economies of scale. That being said, adding and reducing computing resources is much easier to do as with any cloud.
  • Community Cloud shares infrastructure between several organizations from a specific community with common concerns (security, compliance, jurisdiction, etc.).  This allows the community to customize the cloud based on these concerns and spread the cost – making it generally more cost effective than a private cloud, but less so than a public cloud.
  • Hybrid Cloud is a combination of more than one cloud type.  For example, you can combine a private cloud with a public cloud.  This will give you benefits of more than one deployment model.  Often an organization will deploy hybrid clouds to provide the flexibility of in-house applications with the fault tolerance and scalability of cloud-based services.

 

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Cloud Computing Benefits for Accounting Firms

August 19th, 2012
Posted by: Julia Uglietta


By Julia Uglietta
Associate, Marketing and Sales

Accounting firms deal with data day in and day out. The volume of numbers that go through an accounting office each day is unimaginable. The number of emails that go in and out of the offices is inundating.

It’s not only the size issue that challenges accounting offices every day.  Rather, it’s also the need to work faster while remaining efficient – in addition to improving better client and interoffice communications. These goals sound fairly standard for a successful business, right?  But in fields such as accounting, where large amounts of data are being received and stored, achieving these goals can be onerous.  The good news is, however, that new technology known as cloud computing is helping accounting firms attain these goals and save money too.

AIS Network accounting

Taking business to the cloud allows accountants to work from anywhere, at any time.

Taking accounting firms to the cloud is a way to reduce costs, improve efficiency and make data more accessible.  Throughout the industry, the discussions about cloud computing and how many accounting practices are moving to an outsourced cloud computing model has people thinking.  Accountants can see clearly that cloud computing is moving up and moving fast.  Now, more firms are looking into cloud solutions before they buy that next new sever.  They’re performing a cost benefit analysis, and in the process, they’re discovering that the operational expenditure associated with implementing an outsourced model is more desirable than the large capital expenditure associated with buying and maintaining all those new servers.

Not only does migrating to a cloud-based, paperless environment cut costs for accounting firms, but it also introduces new efficiencies.  When you put your data and applications in the cloud and entrust a cloud provider to care for them round-the-clock, you’re achieving IT efficiencies such as:

  • Eliminating the need for physical storage (throw out those old filing cabinets!)
  • Upgrading to industrial strength physical security (including partial or full fault tolerance, fire protection, etc.)
  • Improving backup and disaster recovery processes
  • Enhancing data security
  • Increasing availability (through improved power redundancy,  etc.)
  • Extending IT resources with a 24x7x365 team of hosting experts

For many accounting firms, this makes the decision to switch to the cloud even easier.

The most brilliant feature of the cloud is, in my opinion, its “anywhere” accessibility – which is an aspect that most accounting firms will find appealing.  When your data and your applications are in the cloud, they are accessible via any Internet-enabled device whenever you need them and wherever you are.  It just makes life easier.  Allowing the staff to work faster (and, I might add, without necessarily increasing billable rates) allows them more time to focus on the clients’ needs.

Most customers prefer communicating with their accountant via the Internet, and in many ways, the new cloud-based dashboards, reporting applications and unified communications systems that are now available only make this easier.  By enabling better collaboration and communication among geographically diverse staff and clients, accounting firms’ processes and workflows are vastly improved and the work gets done much faster – often with greatly reduced travel costs.

Life in the cloud has changed many industries’ ways of operating.  Slowly but surely, accounting firms will ease into cloud computing and reap benefits that were previously unachievable any other way.

 

 

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IT Outsourcing Services Spending to Top $251 Billion Globally in 2012

August 9th, 2012
Posted by: admin

 

By Laurie Head
AIS Network Vice President

In their latest outlook issued just two days ago, Gartner, Inc., says that worldwide spending for IT outsourcing (ITO) services is on track to reach $251.7 billion in 2012, up 2.1 percent increase from 2011 spending of $246.6 billion.

Not surprisingly, the industry analyst firm reports that the fastest-growing segment within the ITO market is cloud compute services (part of the cloud-based infrastructure as a service/IaaS segment). Cloud compute services are expected to grow 48.7 percent in 2012 to $5.0 billion, up from $3.4 billion in 2011.

Gartner expects that North American buyers will seek to transition more IT work to annuity-managed service relationships for cost take-out and IT costs. This will keep ITO growing through 2016. Enterprises’ reluctance to hire or make large capital purchases, as well as their pursuit of asset-light IT strategies, continues to push clients toward consuming externally provided services, the firm says.

According to the Gartner press release, which addressed the global outlook:

“Today, cloud compute services primarily provide automation of basic functions. As next-generation business applications come to market and existing applications are migrated to use automated operations and monitoring, increased value in terms of service consistency, agility and personnel reduction will be delivered”, said Gregor Petri, research director at Gartner.

“Continued privacy and compliance concerns may however negatively impact growth in some regions, especially if providers are slow in bringing localized solutions to market.”

Data center outsourcing (DCO), a mature segment of the ITO market, represented 34.5 percent of the market in 2011, but growth will decline 1 percent in 2012. “The data center outsourcing market is at a major tipping point, where various data center processing systems will gradually be replaced by new delivery models through 2016. These new services enable providers to address new categories of clients, extending DCO from traditional large organizations into small or midsize businesses,” said Bryan Britz, research director at Gartner.

The application outsourcing (AO) segment is expected to reach $40.7 billion, a 2 percent increase from 2011 spending of $39.9 billion. This growth reflects enterprises’ needs to manage extensive legacy application environments and their commercial off-the-shelf packages that run the business.

“Change is afoot in the AO market. The burdens of managing the legacy portfolio, along with the limitations of IT budgets, have shifted the enterprise buyers to be cautious and favor a more evolutionary approach to other application services, such as software as a service (SaaS),” said Britz. “New applications will largely be packaged and/or SaaS-deployed in order to extend and modernize the portfolio in an incremental manner. While custom applications will remain ‘core’ for many organizations, the trend in the next few years to SaaS enablement in the cloud will reflect in the growth of the AO outlook.”

You can find additional information in the report, “Forecast Analysis: IT Outsourcing, Worldwide, 2010-2016, 2Q12 Update,” which is available on Gartner’s website.

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Going Green with Cloud Computing

August 8th, 2012
Posted by: admin

 

By Julia Uglietta
Associate, Marketing and Sales

“Going green” is a phrase that has become increasingly popular over the last decade.  Among many businesses, it has become a major focus to become more green by becoming less wasteful and paying more attention to the environment when making decisions about products, resources, and energy consumption.   At the same time, the use of cloud computing has also taken off recently. And although both movements are not directly associated with one another, there are a number of green benefits that come along with cloud computing.

“The cloud” is a metaphor for the Internet that may connote a strong impression of nature and the sky.  And, while nature may not be the underlying purpose of this new technology, the cloud is fairly associated with environmental stewardship.

Cloud Computing giving off a green advantage today

The Cloud is already a symbol representing nature and the sky, and while nature may not be the underlying purpose of this new technology, the cloud is fairly associated with environmental stewardship.

First, cloud computing is all about extending your existing IT capabilities and capacity on the fly without the hassle of investing in new infrastructure, licensing new software, training new staff and so forth.  That’s a pretty good value proposition, especially when you consider that moving to the cloud might lead to IT cost savings as well.

Now, factor in the energy savings and resource conservation that you may achieve by using cloud computing as an energy efficient approach to data center consolidation.  Cloud hosting providers are increasingly becoming competitive about their eco-friendly status and rightly so.  More data centers are doing all they can to make their building and hardware as energy efficient as possible. Their facilities are being designed with power conservation in mind as well as energy efficient hardware and equipment, and cloud providers are promoting environmentally conscious internal programs and policies (such as recycling bins, green certified office cleaners, employee education programs, etc.).  Also, with cloud computing, server virtualization makes datacenters more agile by enabling more efficient use of existing software and hardware resources. Less hardware leads to less waste and reduced power demand/ energy consumption.  In this way and others, “less is more” can finally be accomplished through cloud computing.

And, that is also evident in the workplace.  For example, since some businesses are moving to cloud-based virtual desktops, they can cut down on the number of devices they need. One physical machine can now be configured to access multiple different desktops.  Moreover, the cloud has also enabled a new wave of telecommunicating and video conferencing.  This is clearly saving time, money and energy. With fewer people having to travel to a physical location, less energy is being used in the daily work routine.

It’s important to remember that cloud computing environmental benefits go hand in hand with economical benefits as well.  In the Forbes article, “Cloud Computing’s Hidden Green Benefits,” the author states, “By 2020, [the Carbon Disclosure Project] estimates large US companies that use cloud computing can achieve annual energy savings of $12.3 billion and annual carbon reduction equivalent to 200 million barrels of oil.”

Many hosting companies are making it their mission to become as green as possible and still more is yet to come from the industry.  For our own part, we take the environment seriously.  While we don’t claim to have all of the answers, we are committed to doing our part, daily, to foster eco-friendly leadership and contribute to making this industry greener.  Cloud computing will continue to grow rapidly throughout the decade, and hopefully, the green benefits will only increase with it.

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Consumer Electronic Sales Bode Well for Cloud

July 28th, 2012
Posted by: admin

 

By Laurie Head
AIS Network Vice President

If consumer electronic sales – and particularly those of mobile connected devices (which leverage the elastic resources of various clouds) – are any indication, cloud computing is poised for more growth well into this decade, and surely, beyond.

Tablet sales

Tablets are expected to reach $29.1 billion in shipment revenues this year.

For the first time ever, U.S. consumer electronics sales are expected to top the $200 billion mark this year.  That’s according to a new forecast released by the Arlington-based Consumer Electronics Association (CEA).  CEA anticipates that the industry will grow 5.9% this year – 2% higher than previously expected – to more than $206 billion.  Sales growth is projected to continue into 2013, when industry revenues will likely reach nearly $216 billion.

Sales of mobile connected devices, led by tablets, have pushed overall industry revenues to record highs:   Tablets are expected to reach $29.1 billion in shipment revenues this year, $10.8 billion more than forecasted in January, representing 83 percent sales growth year-over-year.  Unit sales are expected to reach 68.5 million.

“The CE industry is offering what consumers want during these uncertain economic times: innovation and value,” said CEA President and CEO Gary Shapiro. “Consumers’ desire for connected devices is pushing projected revenues higher than originally anticipated, but the long-term health of our industry relies on a strong and growing U.S. economy.”

Smartphone sales will also see continued growth this year and will remain the primary revenue driver for the industry.  Shipment revenues for smartphones are expected to reach $33.7 billion in 2012, with more than 108 million units shipping to dealers, up 24 percent from 2011.

Laptop sales continue to increase as consumers demand mobility in computing solutions.  Led by the introduction of ultrabooks, overall laptop sales to dealers are expected to reach $14.9 billion, with 21.3 million laptops shipping to dealers.

“Tablets are the fastest-growing product category in the history of the CE industry, and sales will continue to increase as more products hit the market, offering consumers more choices in size, price, operating systems and app ecosystems,” said Steve Koenig, CEA’s director of industry analysis. “With U.S. household penetration of smartphones surpassing the 50 percent threshold, we’re seeing slowing sales of dedicated devices, as consumers seek singular devices that can perform multiple functions. We expect this trend to continue into 2013.”

CEA publishes the U.S. Consumer Electronics Sales and Forecasts (July 2012) twice a year, in January and July.  It was designed and formulated by CEA to be the most comprehensive source of sales data, forecasts, consumer research and historical trends for the consumer electronics industry.  The complete report is available free to CEA member companies. At the CEA store, non-members may purchase the study for $2,000.

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What Is Big Data and Why Is It Becoming Bigger Data?

July 12th, 2012
Posted by: admin

 

By Julia Uglietta
Associate, Marketing and Sales

Big data is a consequence of the new world of technology that we have created, where everything is monitored and measured at an increasingly fast rate.  All of the resulting data then exceeds the processing and storage capacity of traditional database systems.  The term “big data” is used to describe sets of data so great and intricate that they need assistance from data management tools in order for people to be able to use the data effectively.

Big Data

Cloud-based big data is rapidly becoming the wave of the future.

Big data can be found in many industries that touch everyone’s life in some way or another such as healthcare, human relations, science and finance.  But most of all, the federal government wrestles with big data routinely.  Medicare claims, financial records, video and “sensor” records represent just some of the big data that the federal government deals with every day.

Big data to the federal government, though, may be different than big data to an organization with fewer than 100 employees. What is considered big data, as opposed to just data, depends upon the organization managing it. Some might be able to handle hundreds of terabytes or even multiple petabytes, while some might only be able to manage hundreds of gigabytes.  It all depends on what an organization is prepared to handle.

Big Data Is Becoming Bigger Data

Faster than we can count, big data is becoming bigger data.

According to the Forbes article “Best Practices for Managing Big Data,” the average organization will grow their data by 50 percent in the coming year and overall corporate data will grow by 94 percent.  IDC pegs the value of big data at $16.9 billion by 2015.

The myriad devices in use today are contributing heavily to the growth of big data. Between mobile phones, laptops, sensors, RFID tags and smart meters, the new technology devices we use today are bringing in more data than ever before.  Not surprisingly, the majority of big data is duplicated or synthesized data. So, just as large masses of data are being recorded daily, copied and stored data is also growing exponentially – and by the second.

Managing data is no longer an option for most organizations.  Rather, it has become a requirement.  However, without the proper data management tools, analyzing the data to gather business insights is an enormous challenge.

Big Data and the Cloud

That’s where the cloud comes in.  Cloud computing, along with the tool of virtualization, is rapidly becoming the best way to manage big data. By virtualizing data, you are reducing the data footprint and centralizing the management of the data set – ultimately making big data smaller.  Virtualization is key when it comes to opening up more affordable data management options and reducing the costs associated with data storage.

The cloud, with its clusters of servers, readily offers scalability and flexibility for processing all that big data. The increase in processing capacity for cloud-based big data saves both time and money.  When big data applications are based in the cloud, a broader range of users within an organization can run mammoth big data infrastructures more quickly and efficiently.  Moreover, in the cloud, organizations can run their big data operations at a fraction of the cost of doing it in-house.

Big data is simply becoming unavoidable.  However, with this growing challenge, comes many new opportunities.  Cloud-based data management tools and techniques are being developed and automated every day to meet the unique needs of millions of customers around the world.

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Cloud Security and Privacy for eGov

June 14th, 2012
Posted by: admin

 

By Laurie Head
AIS Network Vice President

As we embark on a path toward cloud hosting for state government, I’ve been in search of solid resources that will help inform our new role as a contracted hosting provider to support Virginia’s eGov Services.

The National Association of State Chief Information Officers has been very helpful in this regard.  If you haven’t seen their site, take a look now.  NASCIO is an excellent resource for information about state government and technology, and they have made available a wide range of publications for download.

I particularly like NASCIO’s series of reports about leveraging cloud technology.  These reports — four so far — are designed for state chief information officers (CIOs) and other senior IT decision makers, and they highlight the cloud’s potential for reducing costs, optimizing system efficiencies, and enhancing overall service delivery.  They are as follows:

For a discussion of issues related to cloud privacy and security, last month’s report (May 2012) is excellent in its examination of how individual agencies within the state infrastructure are coming together and how “all of this activity is converging on a developing government strategy for maturing and harvesting the value of cloud computing.”  The authors use Delaware and Michigan as examples.

Further, the report outlines 12 recommendations for state CIOs moving toward the cloud.  According to NASCIO, state IT leaders must:

  1. Mobilize internal support for cloud adoption through education and awareness, while clearly articulating the new security and privacy risks.
  2. Weigh the benefits and risks of cloud computing in terms of cost versus security and privacy concerns.
  3. Continue to temper expectations about savings opportunities and to examine risks and requirements.
  4. Educate policy makers on the differences between consumer cloud requirements versus the industrial-strength requirements of state government.
  5. Examine the state’s standard terms and conditions for procurement and consider modifications to address cloud computing.
  6. Communicate and educate government officials on the terms of service presented and assumed for third-party cloud services.
  7. Start with a private cloud solution first, particularly where state data is highly sensitive.
  8. Develop an enterprise security policy that controls unauthorized use of cloud services while enabling legitimate business needs.
  9. Expect compliance issues and scan network traffic continually to uncover the use of unauthorized cloud services.
  10. Consider a cloud broker approach (i.e., develop roles specific for cloud management, like “broker” and “service portfolio manager” in ways that will enhance security/ efficiency).
  11. Work with the federal government to develop a common interpretation of security requirements so that comprehensive cloud requirements can be identified and relied upon.
  12. Stay tuned to the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) as it evolves and leverage approved vendors (i.e., the program will provide a list of approved cloud providers for states beginning their cloud strategy).

Thanks to NASCIO for offering some very valuable research.  I encourage you to read the report.  Let me know what you think by commenting here.

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Outsourcing Hosting: Talking Points for the C-Suite (Part II)

June 2nd, 2012
Posted by: admin

By Laurie Head
AIS Network Vice President

We are often asked, “How do I make the case to upper management that outsourced hosting of our mission-critical data and apps is the way to go?”

AISN

If you are considering outsourcing your hosting, you may need to prepare some talking points for your C-suite executives.

First, because many businesses rely upon their Web site as their primary public face and their IT infrastructure as their office backbone, Internet downtime is simply not an option. “Always on” is mission-critical to business performance.

Next, if you are dealing with aging IT assets, growing application portfolios to manage, or capital spending cuts due to the economy, then you are like most businesses evaluating hosting solutions for your mission-critical data and applications, and we can help guide you through that process.  IT departments everywhere are finding it’s tough to do more with the same or even less staff.  That’s why hosting has major appeal.   It minimizes your operational risk exposure, makes your business more efficient and agile, and knocks down the high fixed cost of IT.

Here are some talking points to consider:

Better—Hosting decreases your risk

  • Frees up your capital for other projects
  • Guarantees you’re always online (with a 100% Service Level Agreement)
  • Helps you avoid poor server purchasing decisions
  • Offers complete scalability, freeing you to upgrade your server or capacity without service interruption
  • Deploys your solution rapidly and provides expert monitoring, 24x7x365
  • Allows you to focus on growing your business by managing operational and strategic risks that you would not be able to handle in the event of a catastrophic loss

Faster—Hosting extends your resources

  • Cuts your labor/staff training costs to stay ahead of the technology curves
  • Enables you to tap more expert talent, faster and for less cost
  • Allows your people to focus on core business needs that accelerate business growth
  • Provides instant staffing for the “what if” scenario that may occur
  • Improves your access to new technologies while eliminating the need to hire more expertise
  • Offers increased flexibility, so that your IT can be more agile and move as the business does

Cheaper—Hosting delivers the best dollar value

  • Delivers consistent, affordable IT coverage 24x7x365 with virtually no downtime
  • Eliminates big capital expenditures on hardware and data centers
  • Frees up your IT budget and staff for other strategic initiatives
  • Enables you to better predict monthly IT costs and therefore reallocate precious resources
  • Grows with you as you grow—at the same superior service level and without requiring you to over-purchase capacity upfront
  • Provides a quicker return on your investment that’s provable

Clearly, just how much you improve your risk management and exposure, efficiency, and cost savings depends on the hosting provider that you select.

We can help you draft your internal proposal or determine honestly how—and if—your company would benefit from hosting services—either traditional or in the cloud. Contact us!

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Outsourcing Hosting: Why Outsource IT Hosting? (Part I)

May 31st, 2012
Posted by: admin

 

By Laurie Head
AIS Network Vice President

AISN Servers

IT management has come a long way since the 1990s.

Do you remember what you were doing in 1993?  We do.  AISN started its hosting business back in 1993.

Remember the way IT management used to work back then—in the 20th Century?

The vast majority of small- to mid-sized businesses ran their mission-critical servers in-house, often ad-hoc. Frequently, those servers were tucked away in poorly ventilated closets with little or no physical security (not to mention the challenges of virtual security).

Back then, servers hosted in-house were costly, onerous, complex and not always dependable, mostly due to the lack of knowledge and resources needed to keep them in top-running condition. Businesses committed to high up-front IT costs—easily exceeding $10,000 for the units—plus the burden of all operational costs and staff time tied to server maintenance and upgrades. Those mission-critical servers were not maintained 24x7x365 and unanticipated downtime was not unusual. There were always worries about power and space availability, and the failure of one or more servers meant potentially catastrophic consequences—especially to the bottom line. This was all before managed hosting, or “outsourcing” of mission-critical servers, had evolved significantly into a more widely accessible and affordable alternative ideally suited for small- and mid-sized businesses.

Today, with radically new and efficient technological approaches to hosting and virtualization, the 21st Century is ushering in a sea change that is transforming IT management. Increasingly, businesses are losing the old-style, “do-it-yourself” bias of the last century. They’re no longer shelling out big bucks for hardware and hassling with in-house server management. Instead, they’re dumping their aging IT assets to embrace emerging solutions such as managed hosting, virtualization and cloud-based computing.

Why?  Because these more reliable outsourcing options have finally become accessible and affordable. And, within the next decade, you can expect that their growing appeal will become uniformly mainstream. During that time, managed hosting — and more likely cloud hosting — will become an even more important market with a broadening range of relevant uses.

The 1990s was the Decade of the Internet.  The 2000s was the Decade of Social Media.  It has been suggested by some that the 2010s could be the Decade of the Cloud.  Do you agree?

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