We are proud to announce the release of our cloud computing channel program – a reseller program centered on our enterprise-class Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) cloud computing offering. Why resell cloud? Read on for my top 5 reasons:
- The annual projected growth rate for IT cloud services revenue for the next 3 years is a whopping 26% – over
six times the rate of traditional IT offerings!
- ReliaCloud makes the reseller process easy – providing a suite of tools that supports the resale process.
- Value Added Resellers (VARs) have the ability to bundle ReliaCloud with their existing technical offerings to deliver a combined solution.
- ReliaCloud partners receive best-in-class sales and marketing support, including marketing collateral, video tutorials, and cooperative marketing funds.
- As a partner, you will be provided direct access to a dedicated channel manager – an aspect of customer service that is difficult to find in a cloud provider!
Learn more about our cloud partner programs by contacting us today.
Phrases like “cloud server” and “cloud computing” are tossed around so frequently these days, you could be forgiven for thinking that they might be little more than water cooler buzz words. However, cloud servers and cloud computing represent a major paradigm shift, and organizations all around you are benefiting from hopping on the cloud.
So what’s this all about?
A cloud server is essentially raw computing power delivered as a metered service. This computing power is encapsulated within a cloud server instance. Each cloud server instance runs on top of a hypervisor within a physical computing infrastructure. A cloud server has a specific amount of computing (CPU and memory) and storage resources that can support an operating system and run applications.
Customers build their own cloud servers by selecting a specific cloud server model and a software template. The software template is a bootable image that contains an operating system and a set of applications. Customers pay for their cloud servers on an hourly basis, and customers are responsible for the provisioning and maintenance of their Cloud servers.
Now that you’re in the know, find out how cloud computing can work for your business.
I ran across another interesting article the other day – this one by the BBC, stating that cloud computing has come out from behind the clouds to shine in the mainstream business world. Tim Weber, Business Editor for the BBC news website, interviewed many people in both the business and information technology sectors. He cites five key reasons the cloud has attracted a growing fan base:
- Cheap: Your IT provider will host services for multiple companies; sharing complex infrastructure is cost-efficient and you pay only for what you actually use.
- Quick: The most basic cloud services work out of the box. For more complex software and database solutions, Cloud computing allows you to skip the hardware procurement and capital expenditure phase—it’s perfect for start-ups.
- Up-to-date: Most providers constantly update their software offering, adding new features as they become available.
- Scalable: If your business is growing fast or has seasonal spikes, you can go large quickly because cloud systems are built to cope with sharp increases in workload.
- Mobile: Cloud services are designed to be used from a distance, so if you have a mobile workforce, your staff will have access to most of your systems on the go.
Now that almost every company has a website, it’s sufficed to say that companies are looking for a competitive advantage on the web. As a result, the need for an optimal hosting environment has become more important than ever.
The usage of cloud hosting is increasingly popular and the benefits easily outline why. The scalability, cost-efficiency and velocity of cloud hosting continue to drive the popularity of this technology. Cloud hosting and cloud computing yields overall faster loading pages, and sites with faster loading pages yield profitability.
Here are 3 of the reasons cloud hosting creates a more profitable website:
1. Positive User Experience - Cloud hosting enables faster loading pages by utilizing multiple load balanced servers. When end users experience faster speed times, they’re more likely to click through pages or return to the site. This also helps to reduce bounce rates. Just last June, Google conducted an experiment testing the affect of speed levels on the end user. Slowing down the search results page by only 100-400 milliseconds impacted the number of searches per user of -0.2% to -0.6%. What may appear as miniscule numbers actually amounts to 0.2% to 0.6% fewer searches for changes under half a second! Even the slightest delay can negatively influence a user’s decision to continue accessing a site.
2. Reduce operating costs –Cloud hosting already can save you money with a pay-as-you-grow usage model, but the ability to increase page loading speeds can save you even more. Last summer Shopzilla reported the results from a year-long performance study stating a 5 second speed-up resulted in a 25% increase in page views, 50% reduction in hardware, and 7-12% increase in revenue. This stat not only demonstrates the obvious profitability from speedier pages, but also the operational cost savings from a reduction in hardware.
3. Web Search Ranking – The latest announcement from Google stated site speed will factor in to the search ranking algorithm. Google states, and Google software engineer, Matt Cutts, reiterates that page relevance will still carry more SEO weight with less than 1% of queries affected by site speed, at this point. This is not to say that site speed can’t positively impact your site, however. Cutts also states the importance of embracing this change and turning it into an opportunity – the opportunity to improve your site speed thus improving your site.
Most websites are still limited to a single server through dedicated or shared hosting. For companies seeking a positive end user experience, lower costs, and potential higher search rankings, opt for hosting in the cloud with a company such as ReliaCloud.
Learn more about ReliaCloud cloud server costs.
Curious about your site’s speed? Try a free test.
Upon searching for up-and-coming cloud computing news, I ran across a new book with a title so long that I couldn’t help but read more: Management Strategies for the Cloud Revolution: How Cloud Computing is Transforming Business and Why You Can’t Be Left Behind. The author, Charles Babcock, is a recognized expert in the business side of computing and information technology. In fact, he is an editor for Information Week magazine and blogger at Plug Into The Cloud.
While I haven’t had time to read it for myself, I did find a very informative review on the book. James E. Gaskin of IT World highlights Babcock’s assertion that cloud computing is a practical option. Babcock believes this is due in part to cloud servers’ ability to increase efficiency by reducing over-provisioning of a company’s own data centers.
If you are debating whether or not to believe the claims that cloud computing may actually benefit your company, you might consider checking this book out for yourself. Gaskin informs us that the book praises high bandwidth availability and relatively low cost of today’s cloud servers. Ultimately, Babcock’s book asserts that companies who aren’t already considering cloud computing should get up to speed or risk being left in the dust.
Thank you to all who attended our webinar on partnering with ReliaCloud! We appreciate your interest in our cloud partner program.
You can find the slidedeck from today’s webinar below. Be sure to check out our other upcoming events as well!
Understanding load balancing algorithms
Load balancing algorithms help ensure efficient processing, and they are a fundamental component of cloud computing. At ReliaCloud, we provide several load balancing algorithms that each use a different technique to balance traffic across the cloud servers.
Clients can select the appropriate algorithm to fit their needs. For example, the “roundrobin” algorithm is the smoothest and fairest algorithm when the cloud server’s processing time remains equally distributed. Round robin is also the most commonly used load balancing algorithm.
When very long sessions are expected – such as LDAP, SQL or TSE, “leastconn” may be the most suitable algorithm. Leastconn ensures that the server with the lowest number of current connections receives the connection.
When the “source” algorithm is used, the source IP address is hashed and divided by the total weight of the running servers to designate which server will receive the request. This ensures that the same client IP address will always reach the same server as long as no server goes up or down.
To learn more about load balancing algorithms, visit ReliaCloud’s Knowledge Base or contact us today.
