What is "Cloud" Hosting?

You've probably heard the term "cloud computing" a lot lately, but perhaps you haven't really understood what it means.
Let's fix that knowledge gap so you can make a good decision about whether cloud computer is right for your business.

Cloud computing means that the hardware resources needed to support your computing needs are provided, as a measured service, by a provider such as Atjeu. You pay for what you use, and only what you use. And you get all that you need, whenever you need it. This combination of economy and scalability (elasticity) is the hallmark of cloud computing.

Traditionally, hosting companies rented space and perhaps provisioned a server for a client. Depending on the arrangement, either the hosting company or the client might be responsible for maintenance, software upgrades, and operational details.

If a user's volume grew, additional servers had to be ordered and set up. Any sudden surge in demand resulted in diminished performance, because all the demand was made on your server. And if demand was uneven throughout the day or month, you either had to buy hardware for the peak need and pay for unused capacity the rest of the time, or suffer declines in performance during times of peak demand.

With cloud computing, many users share a large pool of computing assets. Each client is provided the computing resources they need at any instant. This results in more efficient utilization of the pooled resources and better performance. You always have exactly what you need to maintain a defined level of performance, and you only pay for the right-sized resources you've actually used—and you get all that without investing a dime in hardware resources, and without expending the time and effort needed to oversee those resources.

That's why many businesses are turning to cloud computing.

Why Would I Want Cloud Computing for My Business?

Maybe you wouldn't. Cloud computing isn't the correct solution for every business, but it is an ideal solution for many. Atjeu wants to help you make the correct choice.

Here are some of the reasons cloud computing may be the best solution for your business needs:

• You don't have the IT resources available to oversee the installation and maintenance of remote servers, load balancers, and other hardware needed for efficient operation
• You need substantial capacity, but don't have the money to invest up front in provisioning servers and other hardware, or you can earn a better ROI by expending the capital elsewhere
• You don't have the in-house expertise to determine the ideal computing architecture to best serve your needs. You "just want it to work," with a team of professionals taking care of network architecture, security, failure analysis and other operational complexities.
• You experience periods of very uneven demand, due to the cyclical nature of your business, special offers, seasonal promotions, etc. Accommodating these needs with your own equipment would require purchasing a large number of servers that would go mostly unused
• You are starting out with modest needs but could experience sudden, rapid changes in your website traffic or other computing needs.
• You must provide a high level of website responsiveness and can't afford degradation at any time due to overtaxed servers.

Who is Atjeu, and why should I choose you for my cloud computing needs?

• We're the right size.

  Large enough to offer the most sophisticated solutions, but small enough so you will still have contact and clout in the cloud.

• We offer a real, certified cloud.

  Not everyone who says they offer a cloud has a full-featured, certified cloud operation complete with failover protection. We do. Fly the cloud—choose Atjeu and get all the advantages of cloud computing.

• Personalized solutions.

  Lots of providers say, "Plan A, Plan B, or Plan C. Choose one." You have to conform to their offerings. We have a different approach. We ask about your business computing needs; we then conform to your needs. It's a different way of doing business. We think you'll like it.

• Real people, real help.

  When you call, we answer. Not a call center in another place, or another country. Capable, communicative experts at our facility are available 24 hours a day to discuss your current or future needs, deal with any problems, and advise you on the way to get the most bang for your computing bucks.

• State-of-the-art data center.

  You want the best. We provide it. Our data center is highly secure, with redundant Internet access, backup power, and a host of other features designed to assure the integrity of your data and the continuity of your operations.

• An economical answer.

  Data center services is all we do, and we do it very efficiently and very well. Our goal is to provide our customers with optimal service at minimal cost, and it's a goal we reach every day. You're not paying for costly advertising campaigns, or for us to be in 97 countries around the world, or sell books or index the world's knowledge. We're tightly focused on serving you and your computing needs.

The Technical Details

Atjeu is proud to offer a full, robust cloud capability that optimizes cloud advantages for our clients.

With the rush to cloud computing, many hosts are clouding the issue by serving up less than full cloud capabilities. Don't settle for something that just looks like cloud computing.

Here's what we offer:

Redundant hardware — All of our servers are the latest Nehalem architecture, dual processor machines with 16 cores. These are the fastest CPUs available from Intel. All servers are running DDR3 triple channel memory. Each server in the cloud runs cloud SAN storage on gigabit ports. All servers have redundant power supplies.

HA architecture — Our high availability architecture means that your server instance runs on multiple physical machines so if/when one fails, you are still up and running on another machine. HA architecture eliminates single points of server failure, minimizing the risk of downtime and the financial and goodwill losses that accompany it.

Load Balancing — Distribute traffic across multiple virtual machines with the click of a button. Choose what traffic you want load balanced and how you want it load balanced and distributed.

Data Protection — Data resides on multiple physical hardware machines and in optionally multiple physical locations so you can't lose your data.

Automatic Failover to Secondary Node — If any physical machines crash for any reason, the virtual machine comes up automatically on a different physical machine.

Redundant hardware — All of our servers are the latest Intel Nehalem architecture, dual processor machines. These are the fastest CPUs available from Intel. All servers are running DDR3 triple channel memory. Each server in the cloud runs Cloud SAN storage on gigabit ports.

Seamelss Scalability — Instant provisioning of CPU cores, RAM, and hard drive space. No need to reinstall or redo a server. Using our cloud interface, we can add RAM, CPU and hard drive space on the fly.

Operating System and Control Panels of Your Choice

No Oversubscription — Hardware virtualization does not allow shared resources. This means each client gets 100% of the assigned memory and CPU cores. There is no sharing—its all dedicated to you.

Firewall Appliances — Instantly provision virtual firewalls. Configure them however you want. The firewalls are a separate virtual instance, with an operating system that is separate from the customer's VM, so the resources don't effect the individual VM. This is the same as having physically separate firewall hardware in front of a separate physical machine.