Cloud server?

[CurseTheSky]

Hi guys. I'm not sure if this belongs in Operating Systems, but it seems like the most fitting place.

The company (small business) that I work for does website development and hosting. We have several hundred accounts, mostly other small businesses, but a few larger businesses as well. We currently have a dedicated web server through a company called Liquid Web.

Recently we started looking into upgrading our server. They're now offering Smart Servers which offer the "power of dedicated server hosting with the flexibility of cloud hosting." While I've read a decent amount about cloud computing, I can't seem to wrap my brain around how this would work for a web server, in a situation like this. Essentially we'd still be managing a dedicated piece of hardware - so where does the cloud part come in?

Here's their marketing stuff: http://www.liquidweb.com/SmartServers/.

Our biggest concern at this point is reliability and data security. So far they've been an excellent provider, but we also want to make sure that we're not moving into a situation that will get us burned. From the sound of it, with their cloud-based solution, we could actually download an image of the server / settings and apply it to any applicable hardware that will run it (meaning that we could keep a local copy, if needed).

Does anyone have any experience with anything like this, or any suggestions?

Thank you.

 

[Thor86]

Cloud, or cloud computing is just virtualization of servers/services.

Your primary concern is protection of your IP, then you need to thoroughly discuss and have binding contractual agreement(s) with your provider on what they provide in terms of security, recoverability, and protection of your IP, including any insurable that could cause potential monetary loss of your business.

 

[GrumpyMan]

Whatever you do, don't consult w/Sony on the security of servers in the "cloud".