Cloud computing is the use of computing resources that are delivered over the Internet. Physical hardware like servers, storage, firewalls and switches are provided by the Cloud as utility resources. Clients pay only for the resources they use with no up front costs. Watch the What is Cloud Computing? video from Amazon Web Services

The duties of a systems administrator (sysadmin) can vary quite broadly depending on the size of the organization. For instance, in a small organization, the duties of a sysadmin may range from performing routine network inspections to directly assisting users with their computer problems. In a larger organization a sysadmin may manage and implement changes in the network and supervise the work of a novice sysadmin. It is important to note that there are different levels of expertise to systems administration. Generally speaking, a senior sysadmin must display a proficient technological understanding of the operations of an entire network and the skill to install, configure, and fix every component of an IT departments infrastructure. Win2ix Systems employees only senior systems administrators who are qualified to manage your SMB’s most complex IT problems.

There are three major advantages to “fractional outsourcing” the traditional duties of a senior systems administrator: First, fractional outsourcing your most challenging IT issues can save your business money because you do not need to permanently hire a senior systems administrator; second, fractional outsourcing can save your business time because our senior systems administrators already have the experience to handle your SMB’s most mission-critical problems; and third, utilizing the skills of a senior systems administrator can both compliment your existing IT resources and optimize the overall performance of your operations.

The infrastructure powering various public or private clouds are located in secure data centres spanning various cities/countries.

Amazon AWS, RackSpace Cloud, HP Cloud, IBM, Tier 3, GoGrid, Joyent, Microsoft Azure etc.

Traditional computing infrastructures are usually isolated to one site, owned by one organization. In this model a larger upfront capital investment is required in purchasing or leasing servers, network equipment, storage, air-conditioning, power equipment etc. In addition, these resources might need to be co-located at a datacentre as well as staff need to be involved in setting and maintaining this infrastructure. In the case of the cloud computing model the infrastructure required to launch virtualized computing resources is owned and maintained by a third party service provider. Virtualized servers can be turned on, configured with ease and turned off when not required. The cost of cloud computing resources is calculated based on the amount of hours, the kind of server and storage utilized. Since this computing model follows a utility model there is no need to over provision resources. Most cloud providers structure their resources in multiple cities/countries to achieve high availability, redundancy and fault tolerance. To replicate this kind of availability would be extremely expensive in traditional computing infrastructures.