Good to know
What makes Combined to the first choice for SEMs relating Cloud and Consulting Services are the people, who stand behind. With excellent know-how, readiness to innovate and the ability to work solution-oriented and to find the perfect solution for the individual need.
You already heard about it. But what is exactly meant by Cloud Computing? It is easy: you relinquish in your company to invest in a personal IT-infrastructure which from time to time will be too big or too small and related with many administrative tasks. Instead of this through a network you get the services from the Cloud that you really need. From backup and storage, databases and servers to virtual desktops and software’s. Simple, reliable and flexible – and also cost-effective.
Simplicity: The customer uses the Cloud Service with the well-known local applications. The complexity remains in the datacenter.
Cost saving: Through the "pay per use" the resources which normally are retained for security reasons have not to be paid.
High scalability: Companies don't have to build an infrastructure; they rather use the Cloud Services. So – based on their needs – they can book the resources or give them back.
Future security: Specialists in the datacenter look after many single systems. Single computers can be replaced without interfering with the operation. So hardware-components and software can be substituted and updated. The Cloud regenerates itself and is always updated.
Sustainability: Lately Green-IT is a hype and also in the field of Clouds it finds his application. Big central datacenters can so be operated with more efficiency than many little local centers, because their utilization is more constant. In little centers many resources are left unexploited as a buffer for the peak of use.
| DISADVANTAGE | COMBINED ADVANTAGE |
|---|---|
| Internet access: If there is no internet connection to the provider, it is impossible to work. The problem can be either an interruption of the own internet connection or an interruption in the datacenter. | Business solutions: Our datacenter is connected to internet through a redundant optical fiber cable. We always work with business internet connections, which have a higher availability than a private connection and offer redundant possibilities. Depending on the situation it is possible to use a local backup-solution, which after an internet breakdown ensures automatically the offline work.. |
| Security and data protection: Both points – security and data protection – are together the biggest disadvantage compared with other infrastructures and also the biggest obstacle to overcome for the use of Cloud Computing. The safety measures of Cloud Computing are not fundamentally different from the safety measures of conventional IT-infrastructures. Requirements, threats, guidelines and controls as well as Governance and Compliance are mostly identical. Some adaptations and different weightings are needed because of the differences in the joint use, sharing, control and management of resources. For example, source of danger are access data, access rights, interfaces, shared resources, location of data. |
Security on every level: Our Combined Private Cloud operates from a highly secure – FINMA-corresponding – and 100% CO2-neutral datacenter deep in the Swiss mountains. Nevertheless, fast glass fiber connections are installed, which transfer your data at the speed of light into and back out from the mountains. The high standardization and automation help to maintain the levels of availability and safety. As safety specialists, we have applied safety and protections measures on every level: encoding for the data transfer and the data storage are not an option; it is standard for us. Authentication as well as remote accesses are carefully kept under surveillance and extern specialists examine our security thoroughly. |
| Dependence: If business processes are moved to the cloud, the company becomes highly dependent from the provider. In the case that the provider becomes insolvent or has to stop his business, the data of the company are endangered to be lost. The transfer of data from a cloud provider to another one is not possible without problems. An automatic transfer is not expected and the providers are incompatible. Nowadays there are first signs for a development of standards in the Cloud Computing – for example to transfer data from one provider to another one -, but this process is not finished now and needs more time to be completed and to become established. |
Standardization and automation: Our cloud is based on the world-famous Microsoft Azure technologies. The high standardization and automation help to maintain the levels of availability and safety. The clouds are based on worldwide standards and can be transferred to other providers without big expenditures. |
| Management: Not only obvious factors are involved. For example, a company in Germany was closed down for 48 hours. No e-mails could be sent or received, the internal documents were not accessible. From both locations it wasn't possible, even if the network infrastructure was in working order. The reason for this blackout was an error in the billing. Because of this error in the paying system no employee was able to log in. | Little and efficient: We are a local IT-provider, personal and reachable. Nevertheless we are connected with "Networks" in the whole world. We speak different languages and know different cultures. We want a controlled and healthy growth, which strengthens our top quality in every sector. As a Swiss SME, our business processes are extremely lean and efficient. |
