Cloud Vs. Purchasing Servers

The decision to either replace your servers or move to the cloud is a difficult one. There are benefits and negatives regarding each option. Purchasing a new server involves a large capital expenditure, whereas signing up to a cloud solution involves an ongoing monthly operational cost.

Cloud IT solutions can offer significant advantages. Utilising a cloud solution involves hosting infrastructure, software, or applications, in an offsite datacentre. A datacentre is a purpose built facility for housing computer systems. It has redundant power supplies, military grade security, optimal environmental conditions, and fast network connectivity.

Scalability is another advantage of cloud computing. Elasticity allows an organisation to pay only for the disk space they utilise. Capacity can easily be increased or decreased as required.

On the other hand purchasing a new server generally involves a large upfront expenditure in excess of $20,000. There is also the risk that a server purchased today may become obsolete in a few years, requiring another expensive hardware purchase. In addition locating a server within an office environment requires adequate power and cooling to prevent hardware failure.

Purchasing of new servers does however make sense for organisations located in areas of poor network connectivity. As cloud computing is limited by internet speeds, an organisation with a slow internet connection, would experience reduced computer speeds if they moved to the cloud.

Cloud Purchasing Servers
Payment method Operational Expenditure Capital Expenditure
Server Location In a Datacentre Onsite
Power requirements Low High
Scalability Elastic/ scalable Inelastic / difficult to scale.
Hardware Upgrades Not required Required

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