We live in the time of the cloud. The word “cloud” seem to be everywhere and with it the promise of the cloud based products which often claim to be the future of software and hardware alike. On the other hand we also live in a time where most companies are fighting against insolvency, struggling for their cash flow and attempting to contain their costs to the best of their abilities while still looking for ways to grow and increase productivity.
Many of these companies saw in the “cloud” the holy land of low cost software and virtualized hardware and took the opportunity to renew their operations. But many, when taking a closer at their costs, have found out that cloud computing products and software-as-a-service solutions (SaaS) have higher costs than their appliance counterparts as well as increased security risks.
At a first glance SaaS solutions may seem more cost effective, but monthly fees soon turn into a never ending investment in a platform that is never really owned by the company, as opposed to an appliance solution, which requires a payment for a piece of technology that once paid is owned by its purchaser.
Appliance based solutions are also much easier to deploy than SaaS solutions because they circumvent problems like system requirements and the purchasing of additional hardware for the software to work. Appliance solutions are ready to be deployed and don’t require optimized hardware. They also don’t require professional services to install, integrate and maintain the software.
Appliance based solutions are also more secure to use that their SaaS counterparts. In the case of remote work or remote conferencing, SaaS solutions require the user to connect to a third party server, usually belonging to the software vendor. This third party server is completely out of the control of the solution users and one can never be sure who might be tapping into it or what kind protection it has against hacking intrusion.
With sensitive information on the line, an appliance solution offers its users much more control over potential security threats since one is in control of the servers used to connect the devices and through which the information passes.
Sometimes the best solutions for the future are those of the past. SaaS and cloud based solutions may offer an alternative but in the end the market belongs to the appliance solutions because of one simple detail: higher quality at lower costs.
RHUB’s 6-in-1 Turbomeeting solution is such an example. It offers remote conferencing and remote access in one single appliance, at low costs without requiring any maintenance or special deployment.