Cloud Computing For Dummies®

Chapter 21. Banking on Cloud Economics

In This Chapter

• Exploring the allure of the cloud

• Discovering the economics of the data center

• Checking out some interesting ratios

When company management begins thinking about implementing a cloud, the first thing they think about is the economic impact. In other words, if somehow I can get rid of my data center and move to a cloud, all my financial problems are over! Like everything else in life, it isn't that simple.

Note

Many issues come into perspective when you're evaluating the economics of the cloud:

• The data center itself isn't static; it changes constantly.

• Not every workload is more economical in the cloud.

• Emerging technologies make some decisions more complicated.

In this chapter, we discuss the cloud from an economic perspective.

$eeing the Cloud's Allure

Cloud computing capabilities aren't easily replicated in the traditional data center. Cloud computing can easily handle the following types of situations:

• Your organization is ramping up for a new but short-term initiative and you temporarily need some extra CPU capacity and extra storage.

• You're a startup and want to create an online presence without spending money on hardware or software, so you use a cloud-based platform to get started.

• You decide that running sales automation is much simpler with a Software as a Service solution. (See Chapter 12 for more about Software as a Service.)

• You're changing your email system and decide that selecting a massively scaled application service in the ...