Within the Cloud: Technical Concepts of Cloud Computing - Deploying and Managing a Cloud Infrastructure - page 64

FIGURE 3.3 Data center schematic

Internet

Core
switch

Aggregation
switches

Top of rack
(TOR) switch

Rack
with servers

Rack
with servers

Rack
with servers

But ultimately, be it a cloud data center or a traditional one, there are three factors that
determine its cost of development and ownership:
■ Its capacity
■ Its location
■ Its application
In essence, the real difference between a traditional and a cloud data center is not in
the individual technologies being used; technologies can be shared between the two and are
mostly interchangeable, although some hardware technology is optimized for one or the
other. The real difference is what the hardware is supposed to do and how it is configured
to do it. So ultimately, cloud services will be considered the better option because they can
give the same functionalities and services of the traditional data center yet offer it with far
lower cost due to economies of scale . Table 3.2 shows a direct comparison between the
characteristics of a traditional data center and a cloud data center.

TABLE 3.2 Traditional vs. cloud data center

Traditional Data Center Cloud Data Center

Multiple supported applications and
platforms

Few dedicated applications

Mixed hardware environment to support
multiple applications and platforms

Homogeneous hardware environment and
configuration