Cloud company: recommendations?

[LunarSea]

Have you opted for a hosted desktop solution for your business? Who has been your provider and what is your verdict?

 

[safesys]

Before you venture into this field - how good are your internet connections? I deliberately make that plural as if you rely on the cloud and you only have one connection, what would you do when (not if) someone accidentally unplugs you at the exchange?

We are finding all too many companies venturing into this arena having been badly recommended by cloud-pushers, and their infrastructure has not been good enough so they have suffered badly.

If you have already thought about this then I apologise, but I just wanted to warn you as I see too many companies that don't, and then end up in a pickle when 10 users try to access shared files reliably on an 8Mb broadband connection.

Cheers,

Chris

 

[LunarSea]

Thank you, Chris. When you say the infrastructure has not been good enough, does this relate to the broadband connections only or anything else infrastructure-wise?

 

[safesys]

Yes, primarily the internet connections - they are the biggest bottleneck when using a cloud-based solution.

I have come across several companies with 20 or so users, putting their Exchange and application servers into the cloud, who then try to access the information using a couple of standard broadband lines bonded together. It's just not going to work - too many people don't consider their upload bandwidth needs to be high and sign up for 20Mb lines thinking they will be good enough. However these lines only tend to have a maximum realistic upload speed of about 1-2Mbps so the resultant performance is sloooooooow.

I don't want to put you off, but make sure it's right for you before you change.

Cheers,

Chris

 

[suhailc]

I concur, unless you have a compelling reason why you need to host your desktop services on a "cloud"(in which case you'll need a fat expensive internet connection), it's best to invest in superior local network.

However, what exactly are you looking to host externally?

 

[nightmare4471]

I would too prefer local networking rather than having an expensive collaboration.