Unlike the past where organizations and product lines spent considerable time and large amounts of capital to establish local infrastructure, the future presents us with other options. They include (but not limited to) renting infrastructure "in the clouds" (e.g., in the internet), owning the server and renting space "in the clouds" (hosting service provider), and owning everything locally and on-premise (within your company). Focusing on "in the clouds", there are several types of "in the Clouds" service providers that allow teams to quickly get infrastructure set for Agile teams.
For those wanting to rent or lease a cloud infrastructure, this is a more recent concept and option that some organizations are utilizing where the infrastructure (servers, software, etc.) is effectively in the internet cloud. This service is sometimes known as cloud computing but have a variety of other names each with slightly different focuses and approaches including software as a service (SaaS) sometimes known as the application service provider (ASP) model, platform as a service (PaaS), application infrastructure provider (AIP). Some companies that provide cloud infrastructure include Force.com, Right Scale, Rackspace, GoGrid, and Caspio Bridge. Not all provide the exact same set of services, but they each provide aspects of cloud infrastructure services. Consider performing a search on “cloud infrastructure” for more service providers.
For those wanting to avoid the cost of having a secure datacenter on premises, then can rent a space in the clouds. Co-location as a service refers to renting space in the clouds by a service provider in order to physically host your server or servers. This is slightly different from cloud infrastructure where you rent a service that provides you access to infrastructure without necessarily knowing the details behind it. For co-location services include ColoSpace, I/O Data Centers, Colocation.com and Peer1 amongst others. They all provide either strictly collocation services or co-location as part of their set of services. Since co-location is most advantageous when the service is within your location, it is best to perform a search on “co-location” and possibly your city or state.
As you consider each of these approaches, take a good look at the amount of your budget, need for control, and even the development methodology you are considering. These factors can help you better evaluate the best infrastructure model that is best for your needs.
