Cloud hosting makes applications and websites accessible using cloud resources. Unlike traditional hosting, solutions are not deployed on a single server. Instead, a network of connected virtual and physical cloud servers hosts the application or website, ensuring greater flexibility and scalability.

• Applications and solutions are deployed on a cloud network rather than an on-premises, single server.
  
  
• Resources scale to user needs.
  
  
• Organizations only pay for the resources they use.
  
  
• Cloud hosting can support SQL (including MySQL) or NoSQL databases.
  
  
• Solutions are automated and controlled using APIs, web portals, and mobile apps.

• Flexibility: Traditional hosting services offer limited bandwidth. Cloud hosting scales to accommodate traffic spikes or seasonal demands.
  
  
• Pay-as-you-go model: Users only pay for the resources they use by the month or hour. This setup differs from the flat rates of traditional hosting.
  
  
• Reliability: Hardware failures do not cause downtime because sites and applications are hosted on a network of servers. Traffic travels across separate network interfaces, where it is segregated and secured.

• Security: Clients should consider a provider with physical/operational, network and system, and application and data security options. Enterprises that work with sensitive data may consider separating data at the hardware level, using dedicated servers or other options.
   

• Support: Cloud hosting providers often offer tools, and some offer specialist services to help manage the cloud-hosted environment.
   

• Performance: Latency can sometimes be an issue. Organizations should ensure that they have reliable, sturdy Internet connections.

From an IT perspective, the flexibility of rapid solution deployment for an evolving business need is critical both to the client and the service provider. In an established environment with a long history of IT implementations, it is not easy to deploy a new solution within weeks without affecting the existing infrastructure or the available funding in a big way. Cloud hosting provides the options and advantages of quicker solution deployment and lower cost of implementation and operations.

Organizations today have enough experience with cloud hosting to prefer it to traditionally deploying their applications. It is not only quicker to deploy on cloud, but it also ensures the scalability, availability, and performance needs of the deployment.

Cloud service providers (and there are many) have also matured their services and service delivery models and are able to deliver service-level agreements (SLAs) with much more certainty and success. Cloud hosting systems have evolved to provide simplified and centralized IT services and management capabilities. 

This approach to centralized administration aids both the service provider and users in defining, delivering, and tracking SLAs automatically on the web. Most cloud hosting services are provided through an easy-to-use, web-based user interface for software, hardware, and service requests, which are instantaneously delivered. Even the software and hardware updates can happen automatically. It is as easy as online shopping!

In both in-house and cloud hosting approaches, the non-functional requirements of scalability, reliability, and high availability remain the same, but cloud hosting provides a much broader pool of IT resources to deliver the scalability, reliability and availability, and with a higher degree of confidence. 

These requirements can also be automatically tuned to one’s solution requirements. This is known as application-aware service provisioning, which is implemented through software-defined environments (SDE). SDE automatically and dynamically provisions the compute, network, and storage resources to your application needs. It helps with maximizing efficiencies and optimizing services, a win-win for both users and the service provider.

Cloud hosting thus remains to be a prominent deployment option for clients of all industries. If you are not already there, now is a perfect time to consider it a strategic option and get on board with cloud hosting.

Suj Perepa
Distinguished Engineer, IBM