What is Infrastructure as a Service?
As your business considers migrating to the cloud, think about Infrastructure as a Service.
Infrastructure as a Service – Delivering Without Physical Servers
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) describes a common delivery model for cloud services where businesses rent or lease servers for computing power or storage in the cloud. With IaaS, a user can run any operating system or application they want and through cloud delivery they can ignore maintenance and operating costs. This makes IaaS delivery much more efficient and cheaper to run for an enterprise as opposed to owning and operating its own network infrastructure. Other benefits?
- Cost Savings – The most important reason businesses choose IaaS is cost. When infrastructure is provided at an as-needed basis, businesses no longer need to plan for expanded abilities in the future in order to satisfy the needs of the present. IaaS also reduces maintenance and service costs.
- Easier Scaling – A business looking to add capability quickly to take advantage of a new business opportunity, expand to a new market, or to handle exponential growth will need additional network resources to handle more users and more data. IaaS can quickly scale resources up or down depending on demand and immediate needs.
- Disaster Recovery – With cloud services operating in multiple locations, businesses can access data and applications during outages or to recover from disasters. IaaS can be combined with automated procedures to ensure consistent data backups making recovery very quick and simple.
- Test Environments – New applications can be tested without adding the additional infrastructure needed to support it.
How is IaaS Different From Other Cloud Delivery Models?
Of the three most common cloud delivery options, IaaS models allow for the most customization. The enterprise leases only the hardware (networking equipment, data center space, storage, and physical servers) but maintains all other components of the technology such as applications, data, operating systems, etc. This allows the enterprise to establish total control over how the network is being used without having to purchase or own the actual hardware used to access it.
Software as a Service (SaaS)
This model has the cloud provider managing the entire technology stack while the subscriber pays a monthly fee to access software through the cloud. While this may be a good option for smaller enterprises, it may not be a viable long term option for large enterprises needing control of resources.
Platform as a Service (PaaS)
This model expands on SaaS to include a platform that incorporates the operating system, middleware, and runtime. The subscriber can still choose what applications they run and this model generally is more of a scalable option.
We Make Sure You Get the Most out of the Cloud
At MOBIZ, our goal is to make sure you do business better and when you are ready to leverage all the benefits the could has to offer, we’ll be there with expert services and advice designed specifically to your needs. How?
Content Delivery – Cloud platforms are perfect vehicles for delivering applications to diverse teams, especially those in different geographical locations. We can help keep your teams connected around the country while ensuring they don’t have any performance issues.
Monitoring and auditing – IaaS is never a static solution, it needs to be monitored and assessed periodically to make sure it is satisfying networking needs. And because security is always a concern, the MOBIZ team is available to assist you in keeping you data and applications safe.
Scaling – One of the greatest benefits of IaaS is its ability to scale as your business scales. But while this seems like a simple management issue, knowing how and when to scale is extremely important. Through expert traffic monitoring and by leveraging our established relationships with cloud providers, you will never be left in the dark or hampered by unexpected downtime.
Testing – Expansion is never easy and the same goes for your network infrastructures. Growth management needs to include the use of technology and with Iaas you not only get a scalable network tool, but the opportunity to test expanded networks. This gives you the capability to catch any issues and plan for them well before they go live.
If your enterprise is considering cloud computing, reach out to MOBIZ today. We can help you unlock the potential of IaaS and plan for a successful transition.
The Crucial Differences Between IT Consulting and Managed Services
A managed services provider may be a more hands-on technology partner, guiding your decisions and fitting their solutions to your needs. But some companies don’t need that level of engagement and when you need expertise for a project, IT consulting is the way to go.
IT Consulting Vs. Managed Services, Which is Right for You?
For a business needing outside IT help, the choices can be daunting. There are so many companies out there that offer customized solutions to IT needs and other services, it is difficult to know where to start. Fortunately MOBIZ is a different kind of technology company.
This blog will explore the differences between IT consulting and managed services, what situations are right for each, and how MOBIZ combines the two to create a lasting technology partner that will help any business lower costs, improve operations, and do business better.
Managed Services
When done on your own, technology can be expensive. Not only do you need to hire and train the right people, but your department has to be the right mix of ongoing support for day to day operations and planning for growth. Both are equally critical to the success of your business but for organizations with limited means, it is extremely difficult to accomplish both at the same time.
A managed services provider is a company that is contracted to perform either as an extension of your existing IT department or as your entire IT department. They can manage IT infrastructure and end-user systems or concentrate on specific goals such as compliance, security, infrastructure as a service, or proactive risk assessment. They are more concerned with day to day operations but the right provider can also provide vCIO services and IT assessments that help you plan for the future. This advice is usually tempered along the lines of the services they already provide and while isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it does hamper your ability to choose what you want.
IT Consulting Services
A consultant is an advisor that is more concerned with how to use IT in such a way that will address their current business goals and find solutions for specific issues. A consultant is called when you have a project that needs to be completed or a company has grown to where they need strategic guidance for their IT and related infrastructures in response to growth or industry changes. For example, a company may need to connect warehouses through a custom-built intranet, a consultant would provide the technical expertise so a solid plan can be developed and carried out.
IT consulting is more about advising and helping their clients modernize with the real-world tools they need to meet immediate and future issues. The consultant investigates an issue or a need, analyzes the best outcome, and develops a plan that can be implemented by the client alone or with further outside help.
At MOBIZ, we are consultants that thrive on a challenge and by leveraging our extensive expertise with the latest technology, we can ensure you get the IT solutions you need to compete.
How MOBIZ Combines the Two
Throughout our company history, MOBIZ has developed our IT partnerships by solving our clients immediate needs. We are consultants that thrive on a challenge and by leveraging our extensive expertise with the latest technology.
Traditional managed services model will handle the day to day responsibilities for you, but MOBIZ is different. We’re here to help you tackle the big-picture tasks. Whether you want to upgrade your servers, tighten network security, or move your data to the cloud, large IT projects require a business to invest time and capital in the management of these projects.
Once the work is done, you may find that the company that built your custom solution is the one that is best equipped to help you manage it. This is how we can combine the project mentality of a consultant with the managed security an MSP has to offer.
What are your IT challenges? Reach out to MOBIZ today and let’s get them solved.