Cloud consists of a vast list of techniques and tools. However, every cloud platform shares certain common characteristics. In Australia, the market for infrastructure-as-a-service or IaaS public cloud services has expanded to 40.4 per cent in the previous year. It has generated $1.4 billion in revenue. A reliable cloud computing platform, for instance, the Amazon Web Services in Australia, is defined by various features like world-class infrastructure, top-level compliance, security and data protection. There are specific cloud computing functionalities of every cloud platform. Given below are their primary characteristics.
On-Demand Computing
Many public cloud platforms allow easy availability of resources to users. The resources are available with an API call or a button click. The vendors of these platforms have vast amounts of storage assets. Thus, it indicates a radical shift for IT teams that are generally familiar with an on-premises procurement process, which takes months to finish.
Together with on-demand computing capacity goes the characteristic of self-service provisioning. Now developers can choose the resources they require easily via the self-service portal of the cloud provider. They can start building right away.
Scalability and Elasticity
A cloud-based platform allows the addition and removal of computer networking, storage, and other assets as needed. It enables IT teams to optimize their workloads and prevent end-user hindrances. A cloud platform can efficiently scale horizontally and vertically. Service providers provide automation software for dealing with dynamic scaling. For instance, Amazon Web Services in Australia offers a vast global cloud infrastructure that allows you to experiment and iterate rapidly.
Availability and Resiliency
Cloud providers utilize various techniques to protect against downtime, like reducing regional dependency to prevent single points of failure. Users have the ability to extend their workloads throughout availability zone that have redundant networks linking various data centres in close proximity. Some higher-level services evenly distribute workloads throughout availability zones automatically.
Resource Pooling
Cloud providers offer provisional and scalable services to several of their clients. Public cloud platforms can accommodate multiple users at a single time. It’s because of the multi-tenant architecture. The workloads of clients get abstracted from the software and hardware, which in turn caters to multiple clients on a single host. Some of its benefits include higher availability and high performance computing.
Security
Till today, there has never been any reported instance of any underlying resource breach in any significant cloud platform. The features mentioned above have largely subsided the fears of many organizations that initially thought of migrating workloads due to security concerns. Cloud vendors deploy certified security experts and are better placed to deal with threats than in-house IT teams. So much so that many prominent financial organizations regard the cloud as a security asset.
Wide Network Accessibility
Cloud platform users can gain access to data or upload it to the cloud from any location. They only need an internet connection for it. Cloud is thus an attractive option as most enterprises today have a combination of devices, platforms, and operating systems. Providers of these platforms maintain broad network access by checking various metrics and ensuring that they represent the way clients access data and cloud resources.
Cloud services are rapidly turning into a norm for modern businesses. However, in the face of so many solutions available in the market, you need to research well on your part to find the right system for your organization.
