Greg Montjoie, General Manager of Hosting Solutions at internet service provider Internet Solutions suggests that companies are not yet grasping the full benefits offered by cloud computing. Despite the fact that there has been a definite shift towards conducting business in the cloud, he feels that most businesses do not understand the true benefits of cloud computing, and are instead just “computing in the cloud”.

Montjoie makes the distinction between accessing specific applications via the internet to perform computing tasks (computing in the cloud), and a setup that allows for seamless maintenance, migration and optimisation of hardware, regardless of geographic location (true cloud computing).

True cloud computing allows companies to make the best use of their infrastructure at all times, and to ensure that resources are allocated to business priorities. Such a system also has built-in redundancy – if a specific server is down or not running at optimal efficiency, processes can be diverted to another server without the user even noticing. Other key benefits mentioned by Montjoie include agility, reliability, performance and interoperability.

He cites the example of companies using cloud computing to ensure more efficient utilisation of their hardware and networks across different timezones. “So when it’s daytime in London, for example, those servers are running at near full capacity, while those in Tokyo are running only the basics.” Likewise when it is evening in London, capacity there will be cut to a minimum while Tokyo’s servers are allowed to run at full steam. “The beauty of cloud computing in this instance is that it is a seamless, automated process that the user is completely unaware of.”

“As with any technology, companies really need to look at the full spectrum of features to ensure they maximise the benefits they derive from changing the way in which they operate,” Montjoie concludes.

Local ISP RSAWEB today launched True Cloud Servers, a cloud hosting platform that allows users to deploy and provision fully operational servers in just minutes. The first of its kind in South Africa, RSAWEB’s True Cloud Servers offer benefits previously unavailable to businesses hosting locally.

The two main differences between True Cloud Servers and any similar products that are currently available are the speed at which servers can be deployed and provisioned, and the flexibility and scalability of the offering.

These are some of the key benefits of True Cloud Servers:

• The user has complete control, with full administrator access to their server, allowing them to select their choice of operating system, applications and configuration
• Resources can be controlled on a day-to-day basis, as the demands placed on the server change
• New server resources can be allocated on demand to cater for resource-hungry applications or sudden website traffic spikes
• Users pay for only the resources they need – in other words, the resources that are actually provisioned
• Servers can be set up and fully operational within minutes

Flexibility and control
The technology behind True Cloud Servers allows flexible control of server resources through the use of Cloud Nodes. Users can maintain optimal server conditions by adding resources from the Cloud Nodes whenever they lack CPU, memory or other resources. Mark Slingsby, Technical Director of RSAWEB, says, “With the dynamic provisioning of resources, RSAWEB True Cloud Server users never have to worry about scalability in the case of increased traffic demands or traffic spikes. Hosting with True Cloud Servers allows users to instantly react to high demands by adding required resources at the click of a mouse.”

Viability of local cloud hosting
Hosting locally allows users to avoid the data transfer latency that is inevitable when hosting with an internationally based ISP. The recent increase in available bandwidth, the sharp decrease in bandwidth costs and the introduction of affordable uncapped ADSL in particular make local cloud hosting an attractive option for South African businesses.

Available configurations
True Cloud Servers are available in the following configurations, all of which include free setup:
Server 256 (R256 per month, 256MB RAM, 1 vCPU, 10GB Storage)
Server 512 (R395 per month, 512MB RAM, 1 vCPU, 10GB Storage)
Server 1G (R695 per month, 1024MB RAM, 1 vCPU, 20GB Storage)
Server 2G (R995 per month, 2048MB RAM, 2 vCPU, 50GB Storage)
Server 4G (R1495 per month, 4096MB RAM, 4 vCPU, 80GB Storage)

RSAWEB guarantees 99.99% uptime on True Cloud Servers, and will refund users for any downtime experienced.

Free trial
RSAWEB is offering a free trial to anyone who’d like to experiment with True Cloud Servers. This trial is available immediately, and will expire on 30 May 2010. To sign up for the free trial, visit RSAWEB’s website.