IaaS is a flexible cloud service model with simple rules: users are given the virtual servers with the required capacities, while the provider manages the hardware. It allows users to deploy IT infrastructure according to current needs, with complete control over its operation.
Main benefits of IaaS cloud services:
- Reduced costs on maintaining physical infrastructure.
- Ability to choose how to work with a cloud — you can launch virtual machines with the required configuration, adding the necessary number of disks and networks.
- Increased productivity of own IT resources and quick setup of virtual environments for new projects.
Despite the high demand for these solutions among modern businesses, a common issue is whether it is safe to store files in the cloud. To ensure the reliability of a virtual data center, choose a provider that guarantees:
- Hardware placement in data centers with TIER III fault tolerance.
- Use of advanced virtualization platforms, such as VMware and OpenStack.
- High level of information security confirmed by certificates.
Having understood the theory of IaaS, let’s look at practical examples of how the cloud can be used for various tasks.
New project launch
To develop a new business product, companies need to focus all resources on it. Therefore, the task is to minimize costs without compromising functionality. An optimal solution becomes virtualizing servers and outsourcing some operational tasks to concentrate on customer service development. Here are some successful examples to prove it:
- PROMIS
PROMIS medical system, used for managing medical data, needed a rapid deployment to ensure smooth operations and accessibility. GigaCloud provided a solution by deploying PROMIS in their cloud environment, enabling quick setup and operational efficiency.
The migration allowed to leverage cloud scalability and flexibility, improving overall performance and user experience. GigaCloud’s platform offered high availability and robust security, crucial for handling sensitive medical data.
- Egersund Seafood
The Norwegian fish producer Egersund Seafood, with stores in Ukraine, required a new website and mobile app. In choosing the best cloud to use, the client had two goals in mind: the cloud provider’s equipment had to be located in Ukraine and the provider should have a round-the-clock support. They opted for the GigaCloud’s VMware-based public cloud, moving their website and app there.
The results were almost instant — a smooth operation of services. And thanks to the flexible VMware platform configuration, there is an ability to quickly scale technical resources for openning new stores or during seasonal loads.
Scaling a Business
For companies aiming for intensive growth, expanding IT infrastructure is essential. The choice is between modernizing an in-house data center or transitioning to cloud platforms.
The first option is dismissed as costly. It requires investment and staff expansion as business workload grows, with financial losses when traffic decreases. After all, it is necessary to maintain the extra hardware all the time so that there are no failures in its further work. On the contrary, cloud services are an opportunity to gradually build up the IT infrastructure, using exactly as much capacity as is needed in a specific period. For example, as in these cases:
- UniTalk
UniTalk, a company specializing in business automation, adopted cloud technology to enhance its AI-driven solutions. By migrating to GigaCloud, UniTalk gained access to powerful computing resources necessary for processing large volumes of data and executing complex algorithms. The cloud infrastructure enabled UniTalk to streamline various business tasks, such as data analysis and customer interactions, through advanced AI tools.
GigaCloud’s scalable and secure platform supported the growth and efficiency of UniTalk’s AI applications, ensuring high performance and reliability. The transition to the cloud allowed UniTalk to improve its service offerings and operational efficiency, demonstrating the advantages of cloud computing in AI-driven business automation.
Protection against unforeseen circumstances
Cloud technologies are able to solve business and public sector issues during a force majeure. Perhaps the biggest challenge for our clients was the war. At times when it is necessary to resume work as quickly as possible, the cloud supports critical services: from banking to manufacturing, from public informing about the danger to post-shelling rebuilding. Here are some examples:
- balbek bureau
When the blackout started in October 2022 due to damage done to the infrastructure by russian missiles, the architects of balbek bureau were unable to use the Archicad design program hosted on their own server. The company is engaged in social projects for the reconstruction of Ukraine and has foreign clients, so being unable to launch the program, the entire architectural bureau stopped.
Upon the transition to the cloud, balbek bureau architects work from different parts of Ukraine and Europe — all it takes is internet access to solve common problems. Only backup copies of data are stored on their own server, and the cloud completely covers all daily tasks.
- EasyPay
EasyPay customers make 350,000 daily transactions, paying for utilities and state services, online services, tickets, fines, etc. The business signs an SLA with its partners and bears financial responsibility in case of downtime. Therefore, fault tolerance against any issues is critically important for EasyPay.
The company decided to back up its data in the cloud. Thus, all main services are stored on servers in data centers, and backup copies of the website, applications, services, databases, etc. are placed in an isolated private cloud. There is constant synchronization between the “gear” and the cloud space, which makes them almost completely interchangeable in case of losing one of these options. The platform was deployed already in the midst of hostilities — it took 20 days to set up the system and migrate data.
Hardware rundown
Sometimes IaaS is not just profitable, but an inevitable alternative to physical servers. In particular, when the gear is so old that it is not economically profitable to regularly renew it. Thanks to the cloud, this problem was solved in the following two cases:
- JSC «Naftogaz of Ukraine»
The IT infrastructure of Naftogaz JSC was located on its own physical servers, which were difficult to modernize due to their age. Therefore, the company decided to consider migration to virtual storage. GigaCloud offered the company a private cloud — an isolated virtual infrastructure that has the highest level of security.
The migration made it possible to reduce the risks associated with the breakdown of outdated equipment and to increase the level of IT services in continuous operation.
- Caparol Ukraine
When it was yet another time to update equipment at Caparol Ukraine, the company reckoned: regularly upgrading “hardware” is more expensive than using cloud services. Therefore, first the databases were transferred, and then the company completely switched to cloud technologies.
From their own experience, Caparol Ukraine has made sure that the cloud saves costs, insures the risks of equipment failures and allows you to be mobile in your decisions. And it also increases the efficiency of the IT specialists work, because it frees them from the need to maintain outdated “hardware”.
Compliance with legal requirements
According to legal regulations, companies working with user data are obliged to ensure their reliable protection. This requires significant financial costs and organizational changes. It is much easier to use services that already meet all the requirements in terms of information protection. Let’s make sure it works with these two stories:
- Prozorro
In 2018, the Prozorro system, conforming to the law, migrated from Amazon Web Service to the Ukrainian data center. Then the company decided that for maximum security, it should involve another cloud operator. To increase the fault tolerance of the GigaCloud system, the client was offered an isolated private cloud on the OpenStack platform and won an open tender.
Thanks to this, Prozorro has distributed server capacity to guarantee the stability and security of the public procurement system.
IaaS actually proves its stability, reliability, and convenience. Therefore, it is unsurprising that more and more companies are interested in how to connect the cloud and choose it as a profitable alternative to conservative “gear”.
