THE EDGE
e are currently seeing a
movement away from onpremises
infrastructure, W
which has no doubt been
propelled by the adoption of workloads
in the cloud. Even so, there are many
businesses that are not yet pursuing a
cloud strategy and this is usually out of
fear of a complicated and challenging
adoption process.
However, this is nothing more than
scaremongering and it becomes
irrelevant when it comes to paying
closer attention to the evolving list of
advantages to private cloud. So, what
are the main underlying challenges for
on-premises infrastructure users and
how can private cloud bypass these by
offering a superior solution?
Time to leave the legacy in
the past
Many businesses still heavily rely on
on-premises, legacy IT infrastructure
– often for reasons out of their control.
Some are restricted by budgets – a
problem particularly evident across the
public sector – while others use bespoke,
mission-critical applications often seen
as incompatible with the cloud. There are
also many organisations that persist with
old technologies because it hasn’t broken
– so why fix it?
Well, there is a catch with using this
approach to IT infrastructure – here is an
example to prove it: January 14, 2020,
marked the ‘end of life’ for Windows
7, a software which is still widely used
across the public and private sector. This
essentially means that Microsoft has
stopped providing security updates and
support for it, so users will either need to
pay for extended support, upgrade to the
current version of Windows, or keep using
it regardless of the increased security risks
it will present in the future.
Evidently, this is not an effective, or secure
long-term strategy. And counterpart to
that one large example, there also exists
many smaller yet similar issues in the
industry that are no less important.
For industries such as finance or
government, moving to private cloud,
where the solution is solely dedicated
to the needs of an individual client or
organisation, delivers the most up-todate
hardware, software and services,
removing the legacy burden and allowing
users to benefit from the latest product
features and performance improvements.
Keeping physically secure
Even without the age of technology posing
a risk, there are physical security hazards
Jon Lucas, Co-Director at Hyve
Managed Hosting
ADOPTING A
PRIVATE CLOUD
STRATEGY GIVES
BUSINESSES THE
OPPORTUNITY
TO REDUCE
DOWNTIME,
ENHANCE
APPLICATION
PERFORMANCE
AND SCALE
COMPUTING
RESOURCES.
to consider when investing in on-premises
infrastructure, as all applications and data
are located on-site. The costs of managing
on-premise physical security to a high
standard can create a significant financial
burden. In contrast, good private cloud
providers will ensure all locations are Tier
3 enhanced and ISO 27001:2013 certified.
Their physical security measures, such
as 24/7 CCTV, biometric scanners, card
readers and video monitors often exceed
those seen in on-premise facilities.
Furthermore, disastrous data loss is
always a possibility when backups are only
stored in the same building as physical
infrastructure; no one can plan for a
natural disaster, for example. Migrating
to the cloud allows offsite backups to be
www.intelligentdatacentres.com Issue 15
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