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Best cloud computing services

The advent of cloud computing has spawned a huge number of companies offering a slice of their data centres processing power for a fee. This is a huge step forward for small business owners: while previously organizations had to buy and maintain their own physical servers, cloud computing now means that you can get started far more quickly and inexpensively. Processing data in the cloud also means that as your business grows, you can keep up with increased traffic to your server.

In this guide, youll discover some of the very best cloud computing providers on the market today.

Big cloud platform with a personal touch

Public and private cloud platforms

Excellent customer support

Little documentation

Rackspace Cloud is a set of cloud-computing products from the US company Rackspace. Rackspace was founded in 2006. The solution offers web application hosting, platform as a services and cloud services amongst others.

Racksapce allows you to choose a cloud provider with which you can then interact via Rackspaces platform. The service has partnered with major cloud providers such as Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services and WMware. The advantage of this system is that you have the scalability of some of the biggest cloud providers around but with the customer support of a smaller company.

Rackspace offers a wide range of cloud services. These include public cloud, private cloud, hybrid cloud and multi-cloud. When it comes to their IaaS solution, Rackspace now builds entirely on open source system. This is because it uses the cloud operating system OpenStack.

The public cloud option provides quick and easy access to the IT resources you need. This reduces the cost of datacentre management. This multi-tenant service offers pay as you go scalability which is ideal for users that have heavy or unpredictable traffic.

The private cloud option offers the option of a single tenant environment. This means that servers can run faster due to eliminating the noisy neighbor effect. Private cloud offers dedicated servers for maximum security in and out of your data center. With a private server, the user has greater control. These can be hosted on-site or at a service providers data center.

Rackspace has also created a hybrid cloud which gives access to a combination of both the private and public clouds.

You can sign up to Rackspace for free which includes a technical account manager, security guidance and free server monitoring and reporting. Rackspace has an in-depth guide into their prices. This way you can pick the package that best suits your needs.

Users have mentioned issues with documentation but this is balanced out by excellent service support.

Reasonably priced cloud services from one of the tech masters

Pre-configured tools

Fully customizable

Some loading issues

IBM Cloud is a set of cloud computing services offered by the eponymous tech giant IBM. The solution offers platform as a service, software as a service and infrastructure as a service.

IBM Cloud offers a wide range of services. Not all of them are cloud based: it covers both virtual and hardware based servers, composed of public, private and management networks.

As hardware and virtual-based servers are combined into one on demand cloud-platform, you have complete infrastructure control. IBM refer to their hardware servers as bare metal. These provide clients with sole access to their entire server. This reduces the noisy neighbor effect and greatly improves performance.

IBM Cloud is integrated and managed by a single system that can be controlled via web portal, API (Application Programming Interface) or mobile apps.

IBM Clouds Bluemix developing solution has a wide range of cloud SaaS management tools.

IBM Cloud also offers full server customization. This means that everything that is included in the server is handpicked by you. This way you do not have to pay for features that you might never use.

IBM also offer a Lite tier. This has no time limit, will not ask for credit card details and includes 256MB of Cloud Foundry Memory. After this you have the option of the Pay as you Go Tier where you only pay for what you use. The website has a calculator which you can use to estimate costs. If neither of these are suitable, you can contact IBM for a subscription package tailored to suit your needs.

Users have noted a slight delay when loading pages.

Creative cloud computing from one of the big names

Highly customizable

Free trial

Some customer support issues

AWS was founded in 2006. It provides on demand cloud computing to individuals and organizations.

Amazon Web Services is a cloud-based program for building business solutions using integrated web services. AWS offers an extensive range of IaaS and PaaS services. These include Elastic Cloud Compute (EC2), Elastic Beanstalk, Simple Storage Service (S3) and Relational Database Service (RDS)

AWS offers extensive admin controls available via their secure Web client. Users can access a number of features from here including encryption key creation and auditing.

Aws lets you customize infrastructure requirements. This costs far less than if you were set up in your own premises.

Users can also access EC2 we services. This permits you to run and acquire servers as necessary.

AWS has three different pricing models; Pay as you Go, Save when you reserve and Pay less using more. For more information about these, users must contact sale directly.

AWS also offers a free 12-month tier. Once your trial period has expired, you must either choose a paid plan or cancel your AWS subscription.

Some online commenters have complained about difficulties with contacting customer support.

A wide array of services from a tech giant

Windows and Linux compatible

12-months free

Expensive

Microsoft Azure was released nearly a decade ago, in 2010. Users can run any service on the cloud or combine it with any existing applications, data centre or infrastructure.

Microsoft Azure provides a wide array of solutions suitable for all types of industry. All your business needs will be taken into consideration. This results in a package better suited for needs.

Azure means there is no need to have physical servers on site. This reduces the usual costs, such as an onsite server support team.

The Azure Migration Centre makes cloud transfers faster and easier. The solution is also compatible with Linux.

Microsoft Azure offers a 12-month free tier which includes access to all popular services, $200 (153.74) credit and over 25 Always Free services. All of Microsoft Azures prices and plans are laid out in great detail on their site. The page includes a cost calculator and a Pay as you go service. Each plan can be tailored to your specific needs.

Some users have noted that the price can be quite high relative to other services.

Elastic and inexpensive cloud computing from the genii of Google

User friendly

12-month free trial

Setup can be tricky

Google Cloud Platform is Googles cloud service provider. The platform enables users to create business solutions using Google-provided, modular web services. It offers a wide array of services including IaaS and PaaS solutions.

With Google Clouds multi layered secure infrastructure, users can rest assured that anything you build, create, code or store will be protected. This is done through a commitment to transparency and a highly trained team of engineers.

Google Cloud has a variety of tools to ensure consistent performance and management. These include Compute Engine, App Engine, Container Engine, Cloud Storage and Big Query. Google also offers smooth migration to virtual machines with flexible pricing.

There is a free 12-month trial, which includes $300 (230.62) towards all services and products offered by Google Cloud Platform.

Some online commenters have mentioned that setup can be difficult for beginners.

(Image: Pixabay)

We've covered the biggest names in cloud computing services, not least AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and IBM Cloud and of course Rackspace Cloud which works with each of them. However, there are a number of other major cloud computing providers worth considering, which we'll highlight here.

Oracle Cloud is another of the biggest names in cloud computing, delivering a wide range of hosted IT services, all of which provide an empowering base to develop a cloud presence without investing in hardware you may not need. The service list is comprehensive, with Oracle Cloud providing Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). Oracle also offers 3,500 hours of free use so you can try before you buy.

Alibaba Cloud is another significant player in the market and one everyone overlooks. However, Alibaba boasts a truly comprehensive range of services via its elastic computing, database services, networking, and CDN solutions. It also offers a free trial covering 16 products, while advertising another 20 or more as "always free". In addition to that, the company also gives you a $300 (230) credit for trying out its services.

Digital Realty runs one of the world's biggest independent data center networks, which makes it ideally placed as a cloud provider. More than this, its Service Exchange can deliver hybrid cloud solutions which means you can integrate features from AWS, Google, Microsoft, and Oracle into a single portal. This enables you to get the best of all worlds in a simplified way that's easier to self-manage.

Equinix Cloud follows a similar model, in which a major data center operator is able to leverage its global network to provide flexible access to a range of hybrid cloud options. Because you're directly connecting with the data center, you can bypass normal internet security risks, providing for more secure operations.

Cloud Linux isn't so much a cloud computing provider, but rather a cloud platform you can build across your own servers. This means that if you'd prefer to have tight control over your cloud network rather than going with third-parties, you can host it yourself. While this presents a different set of challenges, it also offers a range of benefits, especially for those companies already heavily invested in their own IT infrastructure.

Link:
Best cloud computing services of 2019 | TechRadar