With extended support for Windows Server 2012 being withdrawn next month, businesses are facing the decision of whether to upgrade existing on-premises infrastructure, or make the transition to the cloud. With the rapid advances in cloud computing witnessed over the last decade, and the dramatic shift to flexible, remote working practices seen in recent years, we believe the Cloud represents the right solution for many SMBs.
As a leading IT support and managed services provider to the North Virginia business community, Infinity Technologies has helped countless organizations undertake secure, seamless cloud migrations. From affordable running costs, to scalable resources that adapt effortlessly to changing needs, the cloud offers many benefits that are difficult (or impossible) to achieve with traditional on-premises hosting.
In this article, we’ll walk you through the main benefits, and help you determine whether a cloud migration is the right answer to your Windows Server 2012 end-of-life challenges.
Eliminate Maintenance Overheads and Stress
By migrating your databases, applications, and services to the cloud, you’ll no longer have to maintain and manage the server infrastructure they’re hosted on. The cloud lets you effectively rent resources like server instances, storage, databases, virtual machines and a range of other resources, platforms and software programs, on an affordable subscription basis. Since you don’t own the underlying hardware, you aren’t bound by its physical limitations, and it isn’t your responsibility to physically maintain it. You instead pay for “virtualized” computing resources that are balanced across multiple physical servers or even multiple data centres. This means no replacing components when they reach end of life, no troubleshooting faulty components, and no equipment powering and cooling costs.
Of course, these costs are factored into the cloud services pricing structure. However, by consolidating all traditional cost considerations into your subscription payments, you can predictably forecast your IT costs and avoid unexpected bills. Enjoy transparent pricing and turn costly capital outlays into manageable operational expenditure by eliminating hardware acquisition costs.
Microsoft Azure Pricing has never Been More Affordable
Microsoft Azure offers a compelling value proposition for organizations looking to move away from on-premises hosting. In the vast majority of use cases, Azure outperforms on-site hosting on a cost-to-capability basis. This is largely down to economies of scale, and the cloud’s ability to maximize the use of its resources. For example, in a cloud datacenter, cooling, powering, maintenance, cybersecurity, and physical security control costs are shared by all the site’s tenants. This could be mean costs shared between thousands of organizations, resulting in cost-effective resources for every business hosting services at the site.
Similarly, the cloud enables more efficient resource management due to the way hardware resources are “pooled” between tenants. Unlike a traditional on-premises setup, where applications are housed within the confines of a single machine, the cloud shares a vast pool of resources between thousands of tenant organizations in an elastic manner. This avoids the overprovisioning that typically results in on-premises setups, where servers are scaled to accommodate peak demand, plus some redundancy to maintain service resilience. The cloud’s more optimal resource provisioning creates more cost-effective pricing for everyone using the service.
Benefit From Enterprise-Grade Security Measures
Microsoft currently allocates an impressive $4 billion annually to bolster the security of its cloud platforms. While it’s important to note that customers ultimately bear responsibility for the security and privacy of their data stored on services like Azure and Microsoft 365, this substantial investment underscores the company’s unwavering commitment to cybersecurity. The result is an exceptional level of enterprise-grade protection that many businesses would find challenging to replicate internally.
From DDoS mitigation and geo-redundancy to intrusion detection and prevention systems (IDPS) and data encryption, cloud service providers spare no expense when it comes to cyber threat mitigation and maintaining the uptime of their services.
Leverage Cloud-based Services and Applications
If your current in-office server is being used to host legacy applications that belong to another era, then it could be time to consider migrating to a modern, cloud-hosted alternative. From project management and enterprise resource planning to accounting and HR, cloud-hosted software solutions exist for almost every business department and function. Such solutions typically feature cross-platform integrations that make it easy to share data and extract valuable insights, and user-based subscription pricing makes it convenient and affordable to get started.
Furthermore, legacy applications can become costly and challenging to maintain, particularly in cases where dated hardware has to be retained as host infrastructure due to compatibility constraints. This, in turn, can present security challenges, due to unsupported devices and software that lack the modern threat mitigations that the current cybersecurity landscape demands.
Adopting a cloud-based software solution equips your business with a future-ready alternative to legacy applications, and gives staff access to the data and resources they need to work effectively from any location.
Enjoy a Wealth of Options
Cloud-based solutions offer a vast range of services, delivered via a range of pricing models. This gives businesses unprecedented ability to create highly tailored solutions that deliver precisely on their stated objectives.
Microsoft Azure for example, gives users the ability to leverage fully-managed software applications (Software-as-a-service), build custom web and mobile applications and databases using pre-assembled platforms and development environments (platform-as-a-service), and access virtualized computing resources such as virtual machines, storage and networking (infrastructure-as-a-service). Plus, a range of pricing mechanisms, including pay-as-you-go, reserved instances, consumption-based pricing and spot instances allow businesses to tailor their cloud deployments around their budgets and shifting needs.
Conclusion
Providing remote accessibility, access to a variety of scalable resources, and the advanced cybersecurity protections today’s threat landscape demands, the Cloud offers adaptable IT that’s designed around the complex needs of modern businesses.
The end of support for Windows Server 2012 brings into focus the challenges and headaches that come with operating an on-premises server stack. From hardware lifecycle maintenance to planning for the end-of-life transition, traditional hosting setups can present costs and difficulties in a number of ways. By going infrastructure-lite with the cloud, you escape many of these headaches, and you get to enjoy continuously maintained, future-ready technology that can be readily adapt to your business’s growth journey.
Infinity Technologies, the best IT provider in Virginia
Are you ready to take your business to new heights in the dynamic landscapes of Virginia, Fredericksburg, and its surrounding areas?
At Infinity Technologies, we’re dedicated to being your premier technology partner right in the heart of Virginia. Our mission is to empower your team, fortify your data security, and propel your business forward with our proactive Managed IT Services. Since 1996, businesses in Fredericksburg, Virginia, have turned to us for swift, personalized, and efficient IT Support, Cyber Security, and compliance solutions.
If you’re seeking to leverage technology to enhance your security, compliance, productivity, and innovation in Fredericksburg and beyond, connect with Infinity Technologies today. Let’s uncover the vast potential that technology offers for your organization. Reach out to us now and embark on a journey toward boundless success.
