The history of web servers and networks is fascinating.
IWeb’s hosting blog has a great history of servers in pictures, from 1981 to today. Going all the way from BITNET mailing lists on the IBM Virtual Machine, to RLX’s first blade server in 2001, and into today’s cloud computing, we’ve come a very long ways with technology in the last 30 years.
Today, we have more versatility than ever in terms of web servers, networking, and software implementation, and that (unsurprisingly) carries over into our work here at App47. Customers today who want to deploy software across their network have a handful of options, and to make those options clear to all of our readers, we thought we’d spend a moment going over each.
Have a look below:
- Public Cloud/Shared Infrastructure:
On the public cloud, there are multiple tenants or multiple organizations ‘living’ on the same infrastructure. Data on the cloud is logically separated so that data is secure for each client. Software can be deployed via the cloud in minutes, and is accessible from anywhere—App47 is web-based and globally accessible so that no matter where you are or what computer you’re on, you’ll always have access to your MAM platform. Although it may not be as private as on-prem, it is still very secure. This is our most popular option, and makes the most sense for most of our customers. - On-Premise:
There are some organizations that, for one reason or another, are unable, or unwilling to run software via the cloud. On-premise, or on-prem, means that the software is deployed on the customer’s own network, and that the customer does all of the management. This includes, but is not limited to, procuring servers and provisioning them, maintaining the network, upgrading the software and managing network security, database maintenance, data backup and recovery, off-site storage, disaster recovery, and many more system administrator tasks.On-prem software deployment is much more user-intensive than the public cloud. What’s more, MAM is based around mobile devices that are already connected to the internet by default. Because mobile apps and devices are connected both inside and outside of your firewall, deploying the software within your own infrastructure is often unnecessary. This is the ‘traditional’ method of deploying software, and while it does mean that the client has all of their own data and software on-premise, it also means much more upkeep and expense than running software via the cloud.
- Managed Service:
If you like the convenience and cost-efficiency of the cloud but want the added peace of mind of physical data separation, managed service may be a good option for you. With the managed service model, there is an individual infrastructure dedicated to you—you’re the only one on it. Your data is physically separated, meaning no data leakage whatsoever. The managed service deployment model takes less than two weeks to implement (as opposed to months with on-prem), and is in many ways a ‘happy medium’ between the public cloud and on-prem software deployment.
What you see above is only an introduction to the three main software deployment models in place for businesses today—and there’s a lot more that we could say about each.
So, over the next few weeks, we’re going to spend some time going into detail about each software deployment model. This should help readers and potential customers decide which model works best for them, so that our team here at App47 can work with you to deploy and implement our software however you need.
Be sure to check back next week, where we’ll take a closer look at deploying software via the public cloud. If you have any questions about our software or would like to learn more about any of the software deployment models mentioned here, let us know in the comments!
