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Consider the Cloud When Expanding Data Centers

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This is Casey Laughman, managing editor of Building Operating Management magazine. Today's tip is that cloud services are becoming a more common option for data center expansion.

The major advantage of expanding to the cloud is that the organization pays only for access to the services it needs to meet its business objectives, not for ownership of capital assets. The approach offers an immediate, scalable solution for a monthly or annual fee.

Although cloud services are touted as a new concept, they have actually been available for more than 50 years under different terms, including time sharing and partitioning. Today, cloud services take three major forms: software as a service (SaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and infrastructure as a service (IaaS): SaaS is the most popular form of cloud services. A service provider offers software to support the end user's business. The end user can configure the software to suit their needs, although they cannot change or modify it.

PaaS offers a platform to clients for various purposes. For example, Microsoft Windows Azure offers a platform for developers to build, test and host applications that can be accessed by the end users.

IaaS offers infrastructure on demand ranging from storage servers to applications to operating systems. For example, Microsoft Office 365 provides applications and storage space. IaaS enables an organization to save on the capital costs, space and staff it takes to set up and maintain in-house infrastructure.

While cloud computing can be an option for data center expansion, remember that the decision will hinge on business analysis. Apply core financial analysis and weigh the payback period, net present value and internal rate of return of cloud computing versus other expansion options. At the end of the day, the technology solution must support the business.

RELATED CONTENT:

data centers , cloud computing