Confused about cloud computing and storage options in Australia? Learn more about the cloud, when you should move to it, how much it costs and more at Ninefold.

Q. How do you define "cloud"?

A.These days, it seems that anyone with a cluster of servers seems to be calling it a cloud service to catch some of the hype. It has even been claimed that "cloud" covers anything that exists online. But we believe that genuine cloud is about the payment model, not just the technology. True cloud computing only bills you for what you use, not monthly locked-in plans and contracts that charge a flat rate for finite resources whether you use them or not. However, a fully scalable payment model needs a fully scalable infrastructure to match, providing as little or as much processing power and storage as you need at any one time.

Q. Why should I move to the cloud?

A.Cloud does for computing what the electricity grid did for power. When electricity came along, you needed to invest in your own infrastructure to power your factory. This usually meant an extremely expensive generator and the staff to maintain it. Eventually, the national power grid was developed, networking power stations together to provide electricity through a wall socket. Today, you simply pay for as much or as little power as you use without any need for infrastructure. Cloud computing provides the same convenience. No need to invest in a bank of servers or a rack of hard drives - simply use ours. Reduce capital expenditure and access as much processing power or storage space as you could ever need - whether you need it for five months or five minutes.

Q. What is the difference between compute storage and public cloud storage?

A.Online cloud storage is not a traditional file system based hard drive. Instead, it looks and acts like a massive, external virtual hard drive – a large, accessible storage location on the internet. In a nutshell, you don"t need to run a virtual server to access it. Files can be written and read programmatically via simple web services over the internet. However, compute cloud storage looks and acts like a hard drive (or disk volume) which can be attached (or mounted) to a cloud virtual server - either as a primary/root disk for your server or as one or more secondary data disks for your cloud virtual server. The downside is, if your VM is stopped – one of the advantages of running a VM – access to your storage is also stopped.

Q. Do I need to be a computer genius to get the benefits of your service?

A.You will need a certain amount of skill to create and work with virtual servers as this is not a managed service. If you know how to manage your own servers, you should have no difficulty. If you don"t know what I"m talking about when I mention hypervisors, virtualisation and load balancers, then this might not be for you. But if you know your way around these concepts, we"ve worked hard to make management of your services exceptionally easy. However, if all you need is cloud storage, this is much simpler and only requires you to track bandwidth and how much data you upload.

Q. How long does it take to provision a virtual server?

A.The beauty of a self-service cloud is that you don"t have to wait for an account manager to provision your servers for you. Once you have opened your account, you can start firing up servers in minutes. Don"t believe us? The following video puts the process on the clock.

Q. How easy is it to set up a virtual server?

A.ninefold® is a completely self service cloud, meaning you need to set up, administer and maintain your own virtual servers (instances). But if you are familiar with virtualisation, then the process is quick and simple. The following video demonstrates how easy it is.

Q. How do I know how much I'm going to spend each month?

A.There is no spend cap, so your bill will always vary depending on your actual usage - just like your electricity or gas bill. However, unlike your power bills, you can see how much you are using and what this will cost by logging into your dashboard for reports and graphs, updated daily. You can then adjust or modify your projects accordingly. Also, you can set up an estimated budget on each project. This doesn"t cap your spend but allows you to set email alerts when you hit your predetermined spend/usage milestones so you always know what to expect.

Q. Why do you charge by the hour and not by the month?

A.Most traditional shared or dedicated hosting services require you to subscribe to a set plan at a set monthly cost. You pay your money and you get a certain amount of storage, RAM and bandwidth whether or not you use all of that capacity. Should you go over these caps, you also have to pay extra or have your service throttled. Most often, plans also lock you into a period of time – such as a minimum one year contract. Cloud computing operates under a different pricing model that allows you to only pay for as little or as much of each resource as you actually use, similar to how you already pay for many other resources like electricity, gas and water. You would think it odd to have to pay a flat amount to cover your monthly water usage, especially if you didn"t use all that water. You"d also be a bit annoyed if three weeks into the month, you found your water switched off because you"d reached your plan limit – or charged a premium for every additional drop you use. But that is exactly how many businesses pay for their IT infrastructure. Cloud computing allows you to switch on or off depending on your usage and this gives many more businesses greater flexibility with their infrastructure while saving money.

Q. Where is my data stored?

A.Our initial cloud pod is housed in the Macquarie Telecom"s Intellicentre, based in Sydney. This arrangement allows us maximum flexibility and availability, benefiting from a world class infrastructure designed to exceed industry standards. It has achieved the highest level of accredited security in Australia.

Q. How do I know you will stick around?

A.We are fortunate enough to have the backing of Macquarie Telecom, an ASX-listed major Australian B2B telco. This allows us to develop an infrastructure large enough and solid enough with the capacity to grow as rapidly as necessary. This also means Ninefold® isn"t ever at risk of suddenly disappearing with your data. We"re in this for the long haul and have the resources to stick around for years.

Q. How secure is my data?

A.Firstly, you always know exactly where your data is, reducing the risk of different international regulations exposing your data to access from various authorities. Secondly, Ninefold® has installed optional physical firewall services for even greater enterprise-grade security if required. Our goal is to help minimise the risks associated with your data by putting in place some practical safeguards.

Q. Who put the bop in the bop shoo bop shoo bop?

A.I don"t know, but they also put the ram in the rama lama ding dong.