Managed Hosting

A client wishing to gain access to a server can purchase the equipment and manage it himself, pay a company to manage server equipment he purchases, or open an account with a company that buys and handles the equipment for him. The last two options fall under the category of managed hosting, a popular option among many website owners. Managed hosting plans are used by customers who wish to host their own websites without maintaining the server equipment themselves. Managed hosting companies populate the Internet, giving customers ample opportunity to shop around for the best deal.

The rise of cloud computing is starting to change managed hosting services. Some companies offering managed hosting now also offer to manage a client’s cloud servers. Cloud computing revolves around a concept known as software-as-a-service (SaaS). The idea is to remotely host a program or an entire computer system the client can access over the Internet. The Internet takes on the term “cloud,” taking the image from a network of interlinked computers that vaguely approximate their namesakes in the sky. Cloud computing allows personal files and programs to be accessed potentially from anywhere as long as the client has access to the Internet.

Managing cloud hosting systems is already organized into an industry. Major search engine companies now have entire data centers dedicated to hosting sensitive client data. Other companies have discovered that outsourcing their server requirements via cloud computing is much more cost-efficient. Managed hosting has started to take on cloud computing and offer companies the resources they need at a much lower price. The reasoning is similar to growing one’s own vegetables instead of buying them from a supermarket. The extra time and money can be put to better use if the customer uses managed hosting combined with the cloud computing industry.

More information here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dedicated_hosting_service

Private Cloud

Cloud computing refers to accessing programs and files remotely over the Internet and the equipment necessary to achieve that ability. A recent trend is for companies to try cloud computing at home, creating a private cloud, rather than contract third parties to use their remote servers. Private cloud computing is a somewhat loose and vague definition, inviting users to sneak inappropriate concepts into it. Nevertheless, the trend is real and growing as companies seek to develop in-house cloud computing systems for their own internal networks. These companies do not wish to cede control and security to an outside provider.

The private cloud concept has limited application to a company’s entire infrastructure. Practicality dictates that private cloud computing can only be applied to the parts of an internal network that can be outsourced. An interesting use of private clouds is in delivering services to partnered businesses. Web portals in use a decade earlier allowed customers and partner companies to order new goods through online forms, private partner clouds now take that concept to the next level. Private partner clouds allow partnered firms to literally share services with one another, making negotiating much simpler and cost-effective.

This concept may have a huge impact on business-to-business commerce, especially the growing portion that takes place online. Partner clouds can encourage companies in related industries to communicate and form joint ventures, providing a boost to innovation and competitiveness. Private clouds in general are moving information technology to much greater customization and lower costs. Specific applications like partner clouds can help businesses operate more efficiently. Private clouds may open further avenues towards greater automation and efficiency on multiple levels. Private clouds can change the entire internal sub-structure of corporations that adopt them: Corporate culture, management styles and the interaction between businesses. The upside to this is new opportunity, growth and profit.

Fiber Optic Internet

The fiber optic internet is changing the way the world communicates. There has been remarkable improvement in the quality of videos and sounds transmitted through the Internet. Fiber optic internet provides high speed access to the Internet. The experience of fiber optic internet is remarkable in comparison to traditional cables. The fiber optic is fast gaining popularity though it is not available at ever location easily.

Inside a Fiber Optic Cable

Fiber optic internet cables are thin as human hair. The fiber optic cables offer better flexibility over traditional cables because of their thinness and elasticity. The fiber optic internet cables pose no hazard due to their inflammable nature. The fiber optic internet cable can carry 65,000 more information than the traditional copper wire. This is the reason companies are making efforts to make technology accessible to people through fiber optic internet cables. The fiber optic internet cables provide high bandwidth making it preferred choice in telecommunications, media, public transportation and various other sectors. Fiber optic internet cables are also secure since data loss does not occur.

The fiber optic internet cable has two layers namely core and cladding, each having a different refractive index. The refractive index measures speed of light. The refractive index of the core is higher since the light passes through the core. The fiber optic internet cables consist of materials like glass, plastic and silica. The voice or video data is encoded into electrical signals that are decoded at their destination. This ensures minimal or no loss of data.

Fiber optics internet has become the industry standard for transmitting the information on the internet. Fiber optics internet is hogging the attention as the world switches from traditional copper wire to high-speed fiber optic internet cables. Today nearly 80% of the long distance data transmission occurs through fiber optic internet cables.

SAAS – What It Stands For And What It Is

SAAS is an acronym that stands for “software as a service.” It is related to the idea of cloud computing and the two concepts share some characteristics. The two are not the same, though, and it’s important to recognize the differences.

Cloud computing is the use of the internet or a network to access data hosted on a remote server. This can be as simple as accessing a few document files or as complicated as accessing large corporate databases. SAAS is the use of the internet to access software that is installed remotely. Thus, while SAAS qualifies as a type of cloud computing, cloud computing does not necessarily refer to SAAS.

As mentioned, SAAS allows remote access to a software application. In a business setting, this is great news for the IT department. It means no longer needing to maintain separate installations on each machine of each piece of software. It means not having to manually install individual updates or handle hardware failures on individual machines. Instead, the software application is accessed through a web browser or something similar. While the user sees and interacts with the software like they would a traditional application, the application is not actually installed locally. A good mainstream example of SAAS would include the collaborative office software Google Docs.

Many SAAS programs maintain a different license from traditional pieces of software. While the traditional software license involves purchasing the software once and receiving perpetual upgrades, SAAS usually bills on a recurring subscription model, unless it is free. In the long run, the fee for the software will be much higher than with the traditional licensing. The cost of SAAS may actually be lower though: Businesses using SAAS do not need to pay an IT department to manage installations of software. Because of this, it’s worthwhile for most businesses to look at what SAAS options they have and decide if it would be more cost efficient than the typical method of purchasing and installing copies of software.

Colocation in Cloud computing

More businesses are looking to technological advancements to increase business profits and decrease expenses. Most are doing this by using cloud computing and colocation. This article will briefly delve into the two concepts.

Basically cloud computing is where many computers are connected together using the internet in a bid to reduce storage costs, increase accessibility to data among authorized users, share software and other things. All this is done on cloud servers. On the same grain, colocation is an outsourced data center where an individual or can operate software or hardware.

These two terms are similar in a sense that the business will be not be using their own servers to handle their activities but they will be using servers that can be anywhere in the world. This will mean greater productivity in the business because activity can be undertaken at any time in the world. Also the fact that they will not need to buy their own servers serves and therefore manpower serves to reduce expenses and increase profits. They both can be taken up by any business with minimal hustle because trained technicians handle everything in a relatively short amount of time.

most important difference is that colocation is usually adopted by very large organizations while cloud computing is mostly used by smaller ones

With that being said, there are a few instances in which colocation and cloud computing differ. The most important difference is that colocation is usually adopted by very large organizations while cloud computing is mostly used by smaller ones. The reason for this is that large businesses take growth and adaptability seriously as a lack of it can stall business activities. Also large businesses are very particular about administrative security with are higher in colocation than in cloud computing.
It should also be added that most cloud computing service providers use colocation facilities because of the same reasons that large organizations use them; flexibility, adaptability and high security.

Private IP

An IP address is the unique address of a computer. IP addresses have a dotted decimal format like 184.12.183.6. The address section classifies the numbers as octets. Since each octet can be numbered from 0-255, this means that there are 4.2 billion IP addresses. However, there are private addresses or private IP also known as RFC 1918 addresses. The private IP address finds its application behind routers.

The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority has reserved three blocks for private IP. These blocks are known as 24 bit, 20 bit and 16 bit blocks. Each block of private IP address consists of class A, B and C respectively. An organization that uses private IP address does not require assigning of numbers from Internet registry.

Large organizations use private IP address for assigning internal IP address. A private IP address does not create conflict among users. The private IP address is popular where the user does not register their computer with DHCP service. A private IP address finds its use for communicating between database servers and local servers. A private IP address allows communication between servers through the private network. Large organizations use private IP address for internal communication without connecting to the Internet.

The private IP address is also a non-routable address. Routers recognize the private IP address, and hence; they refrain from directing traffic on Internet. A private IP address needs to be converted into public IP address before connecting to the Internet. The router performs this task by network address translation.

The use of a private IP address is common when the user does not require external connectivity. For example, airports use private IP to display information about arrival and departure of an aircraft. Airports do not require external connectivity to perform this task. Hence, a private IP address fits perfectly for the internal communication purposes of the airport.

SHDSL vs DSL

Using copper telephone lines is often the only option available to customers in certain areas who cannot afford cable Internet. Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)  technology (read more  about DSL technology at Cisco’s website) carries digital data through copper phone lines at a reasonable high transmission rate. DSL connections are relatively cheap and reliable. Advances in technology have made a new form of DSL technology feasible at last. Single-pair High-speed Digital Subscriber Line (SHDSL) technology transmits digital data at much faster rates than previous versions of DSL. Frequency splitters, used by older DSL systems to share DSL services with regular telephone services, cannot be used with SHDSL technology because the data is transmitted and received at symmetric rates.

Single-pair High-speed Digital Subscriber Line (SHDSL) technology transmits digital data at much faster rates than previous versions of DSL

With a single copper wire pair, a customer can experience upstream and downstream service at transmission rates ranging from 192 Kilobytes per second (Kbps) to 2,320 Kbps or 2.3 Megabytes per second (Mbps). Higher transmission rates may be achieved with two or more copper wire pairs. For example, two copper wire pairs will yield 384 Kbps to 4.6 Mbps.

Like all DSL technologies, the effectiveness and reliability of the connection diminishes the greater the distance from the central office (CO). The quality of the signal goes down as well as the transmission rate. This has to do with the nature of the technology itself. DSL uses additional frequency space on regular telephone lines to transmit data at high rates. At the provider itself, a large device called a DSL Access Multiplexer takes multiple connections from individual customers and aggregates them into a single powerful connection to the Internet itself.

SHDSL has the potential to dramatically upgrade a customer’s service from regular DSL. The advantages are much higher data transmission rates depending on the number of copper wire pairs used to make the connection. SHDSL still suffers from the same distance sensitivity as regular DSL.

The VPN Basics

VPN stands for virtual private network, which refers to the use of such a public network as the Internet to build a private network that connects remote users. The system provides businesses with a way to expand their operations at minimal costs.

As businesses expand, they establish multiple offices in different parts of the country or even globally. People in the distant offices need an effective way of sharing information quickly and securely. Some members of staff also need to keep in touch while travelling.

Formerly, businesses used to rely on leased lines to create private networks. However, this option is only feasible if the offices are relatively close to each other. The further the distance between offices, the higher the costs of leasing lines will be.

Benefits of VPN

Since a VPN provides a reliable and secure connection over a public network, it has a number of advantages, including:

• Extending connections across several geographic locations without leasing lines; hence lowering costs.
• Exchange of data in a secure environment through the use of encryption technology.
• Enhancing working from virtual locations, which saves both time and money.
• Improving flexibility and productivity for remote offices.

Types of VPN

There are 2 primary types of VPN – site-to-site VPN and remote-access VPN.

With site-to-site VPN, offices in different fixed locations establish secure connections among them using a public network. It is ideal for businesses with multiple branch offices.

In a remote-access VPN, individual users establish secure connections with computer networks in remote locations. This method is ideal for large companies having hundreds of staff members in the field. These people will connect to the company network remotely just as if they were connected directly. They require a Network Access Server and client software to establish connection with the private network.

Extra Information

Visit http://www.howstuffworks.com/vpn.htm to learn how Virtual Private Networks work

WAN (Wide Area Networks)

Wide Area Networks (WANs) are made up of interconnected Local Area Networks (LANs) spread out over a larger geographical area. LANs are used to connect computers in the same office building or school. WANs connect separate LANs to one another and to the broader Internet, which is the ultimate WAN. Corporations, universities and private research organizations often have their own WANs. These entities sometimes used leased lines or virtual private networks (VPNs). WANs use much more sophisticated and expensive equipment than LANs because they have greater requirements. LANs are connected to WANs using routers. Depending on the type of Internet Service Provider (ISP), routers may join the LAN to a cable, T1 or DSL connection.

A WAN connecting multiple LAN Networks.

A LAN is usually owned and operated by a single organization. WANs, interlinking multiple LANs, operate under collective distribution and management schemes. More advanced technologies are used to connect LANs over long distances through WANs. LANs use Ethernet, Token Ring and other similar connectivity schemata. WANs have to keep track of every single LAN address and additional WAN addresses for communicating with other WANs. The router that connects a LAN to a WAN has to remember both the WAN address and the LAN address. As Internet Protocol (IP) addresses constantly change, the interaction between LANs and WANs can shift quite rapidly.

Area networks help maintain the flow of information between computers. Communication between computers, email servers, Domain Name System (DNS) servers and web servers all takes place under the aegis of the Internet, a network of networks. Computer networking is one of the most important fields in the information technology industry. Without WANs and their various support structures, the convenience and usefulness of the Internet would not be available. WANs are some of the vertebrae that provide critical functions as part of the Internet’s backbone.