People talk about cloud computing, virtual hosting and Software-as-a-Service as a collective, but are they really the same thing?
Cloud computing, virtual hosting, Saas (Software as a Service), CaaS (Computing as a Service), grid computing, utility computing, virtualisation, web server hosting – generally, these terms all refer to the same thing. But their meanings are entirely different. The biggest myth is that the term ‘cloud’ equals SaaS. But what we must understand as consumers is that the very popular expression ‘cloud computing’ has been hijacked by vendors and specialist marketers.
The phrase ‘Virtualised clouds’ is glamorous, hip and interesting. Marketing professionals can do a lot with this, from playing around with words, images, and cheesy puns that just roll of the tongue. Virtual hosting has now entered into the glamorous and glitzy world of technology – and here, jumping onto the latest bandwagon is not uncommon. In a world where the new is in fact old, and where the not-even-invented is new, it’s critical to have the hippest, freshest commodities in order to keep head above water. But this poses a serious problem for virtual hosting. Fancy terms and flashy one-liners can confuse the consumer.
The Consumer Understanding of Virtual Hosting
The concept of virtualisation should be easy to understand. But the fact is, it’s not. Consumers find the endless collection of tech jargon confusing to say the least. This can leave the average virtual hosting customer isolated and unsure about what they should be asking for. Customers are not confident that they understand what it is they need, and they are unsure of what they can get for their money.
The consumer illusion is that cloud = SaaS, and SaaS = utility computing, so therefore utility computing = virtual hosting. But the case is not so. So to elucidate:
ŸCloud computing – this is a form of computing whereby a vendor is to supply computation services to the end customer over the web. Services may vary and can include software, platforms, and applications. Because these applications are ‘multi-tenant’, multiple instances of the package can be applied. This is all possible through virtualised technology, provided by scalable data centres that are much more efficient than the use of physical servers.
SaaS (Software as a Service) – this is a manifestation of the cloud computing and virtual hosting. Not all SaaS offerings are scalable, like the rest of virtual hosting promises.
Virtual Hosting Made Easy with SwitchLink
If you want a simple virtual hosting package, visit the SwitchLink website today.
