Demystifying and getting the best from
the Cloud
Analysts tell us that the future of the computing is in ‘the cloud’. But for most users (and that includes many IT users) the reality of what ‘the cloud’ actually means is still shrouded in mystery and marketing clichés.
Here at Consilium we can help demystify the reality from the hype, and help you to find the benefits that your business can gain from understanding and using the new technologies. Whether it is help in migrating your services to a cloud based technology, investing in your own private cloud services, or just advice on the possibilities our consultants and account managers are here to help.
After all who better to ask about clouds than a company based in the West of Scotland?
moving to the cloud
So what does the cloud have to offer? Well the list is growing at a daily rate but there are a number of services which you may want to look at.
Security – Web and Email Management
You may already have inhouse systems to manage your email and protect you against viruses and spam, but this can often be improved by moving to a managed cloud-based service. The advantages are that spam is stopped before it even gets a chance to clog your internet connection and updates to detection rules for spam and viruses are managed by your online provider. Many services are available including Symantec.Cloud (previously Messagelabs), Google Postini Services and Microsoft Forefront Online Protection.
In addition to email protection new cloud based proxy services are becoming available. These allow you to scan your corprorate web traffic in realtime to stop virus infection, but also to monitor and control access to unwanted content. And best of all this protection still works when your mobile users take their business laptops out of the office to protect them 24 x 7.
backup to the cloud
The importance of backup can’t be underestimated, but are you one of the companies who’s backups stay on site? Cloud-based backups such as Symantec BackupExec.Cloud allow you to store your backup data in an encrypted state off site to cover you should the worst happen.
private cloud
For some organisations the complexity of their IT requirements doesn’t lead to an easy migration to the cloud. In these instances the solution may be to gain the benefits of a cloud based infrastructure, but based on your own hosted hardware.