Over the last few years, Cloud Computing has earned itself the status of being a leading technology in the business world. It is not just a technology, rather a business model, that has now deeply penetrated in the ways organizations work.
Most enterprises are familiar with the benefits associated with the adoption of Cloud-based services and solutions across their IT infrastructures. This is the reason why numerous businesses have shifted their key workloads to Cloud-based environments.
In the traditional computing sense, the word workload simply means the ability of a computer system to process inputs into outputs, or any work that has been completed by a system.
Related: Cloud VDI – The Present and Future of Enterprise Workloads
Cloud workloads, on the other hand, include applications or services that are consuming Cloud-based resources and bandwidth. It could be a massive one, comprising of thousands of micro-services working parallel with each other, or a simple individual service.
Best Suited Workloads for the Public Cloud
There is a corresponding growth between digitalization and adoption of Cloud-based workloads.
According to Gartner, businesses usually prefer to shift the following key workloads to Public Cloud Platforms.
- The applications, deployed on the Cloud, are more suitable for businesses, as they have a horizontal applicability. This makes them easily accessible for various organizations and remote-based workers. These applications prove way more productive and collaborative on the Cloud, as compared to the on-premise environments.
- In the remote-based work environments, video conferences came as a “lifesaver”. They have variable network bandwidth requirements that are successfully fulfilled by Cloud Service Providers (CSPs), as opposed to on-premise infrastructures.
- Cloud-powered Virtual Desktops and Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS) solutions have gained a lot of popularity in the business world. They are way more scalable and flexible, as compared to on-premise datacenter solutions. It makes a lot of sense to deploy them to the Public Cloud.
- Cloud-based Disaster Recovery (DR) solutions provide a robust Business Continuity (BC) posture to an enterprise. Cloud powered DR makes sure that your mission critical workloads are fully recovered and functioning after a disaster has struck. It is convenient to shift DR workloads to the Cloud, instead of resurrecting dedicated, physical Disaster Recovery (DR) sites.
In the Multi-Cloud environments, various workloads are working across the Private and Public Cloud infrastructures.
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Classification of Cloud Workloads
The workloads can be classified, based on their architecture, usage pattern and need for resources. This classification can help you decide whether you want to deploy them to the Public Cloud, Private Cloud or a Hybrid one.
Resource-based Categorization
The following points show us the different categories in which Cloud workloads can be classified according to their resource needs.
- Default Configuration: The containerized microservices, distributed data stores and web servers that do not require any specific high computation, can be put in this category.
- High Compute: These types of workloads usually handle a lot of concurrent users. These Cloud workloads include online games with numerous players, or an application that requires CPU-intensive operations. They demand high computational power.
- High Memory: These workloads require intensive memory resources to perform numerous transactions at once. For example, caches and streamlining data.
- Computing Powered by Graphis Processing Units (GPU): The workloads in this category require the power of both GPU and CPU to work. For example, self-driving cars, navigation systems, seismic activity analysis devices etc. All these workloads require high-speed processing.
- Storage-based: As the name suggests, the workloads that require optimized storage, can be placed in this category.
Related: A Peek into Cloud Computing Trends for 2022
Usage-Pattern Based Categorization
Depending on their usage pattern, the Cloud-based workloads can be categorized in the following way.
- The first type is when there is a fairly static requirement and uptime for resources. Email is an example of a static workload.
- The second type is when there is a periodic requirement and uptime for resources. Here, the users are aware of the instances when there will be spikes in traffic, beforehand. For example, the automatic payment of a bill on a specific date.
- The third type includes unpredictable workloads. For example, a sudden spike in the use of social networks or video streaming applications. The Cloud-powered auto-scaling feature greatly helps navigate through these sudden, un-expected spikes.
Benefits of Deploying Workloads in the Cloud
Cloud Service Providers (CSP), like dinCloud, are providing multiple Cloud-based solutions and services that can be leveraged by enterprises for their benefits.
The agile and flexible solutions of CSPs can be accessed by the user with any endpoint device, sitting anywhere in the world. The enterprise can scale their operations, up or down, depending on their varying demands. Following mentioned points show the benefits of running workloads in the Cloud.
- The Cloud-based solutions offer flexible storage options.
- Cloud workloads/ are easily accessible/ to various endpoint users.
- The Cloud provides top-notch data protection solutions and Disaster Recovery (DR) plans.
- Running workloads on Cloud environments can reduce the cost of purchasing new hardware.
- Cloud Service Providers (CSP)/ offer effective management of Cloud workloads. This lifts the burden from in-house IT teams, regarding the maintenance of Cloud-based workloads
- The advantages of deploying workloads in Cloud-based infrastructures are indeed compelling. This is the reason why a lot of visionary business leaders are adopting these solutions across their IT/ infrastructures.
Conclusion
The evolution of digital technologies, like Cloud Computing, has enabled human beings to overcome several challenges, while leaving the burdensome tasks for the machines. Cloud workload is a concept that indicates resilience and portability.
We are way past that stage now, where an IT specialist would have to deploy software, servers and storage for each of the workloads separately. Today, workloads are rapidly evolving, and IT leaders need to give serious thought to Cloud-based infrastructures for executing these workloads.
dinCloud, an ATSG company, provides a wide array of Cloud-based services and solutions for your enterprise, at a fraction of the cost of on-premise infrastructure.
