Humans are incredibly complex. Trying to unlock the mysteries of the human genome takes perpetual data crunching power. The big brains behind the research fueling the evolution of gene therapy want to gobble up as much cloud capacity as possible to help them decipher the hidden codes that operate the human race. And, they want to move as fast as they can to save as many lives as they can. Tapping into the excess capacity of cloud providers can supercharge their efforts.

1. Cloud Computing’s Underground Club
Humans are incredibly complex. Trying to unlock the mysteries of the human
genome takes perpetual data crunching power. The big brains behind this research
that is fueling the evolution of gene therapy want to gobble up as much cloud
capacity as possible to help them decipher the hidden codes that operate the human
race. And, they want to move as fast as they can to save as many lives as they can.
Tapping into the excess capacity of cloud providers can supercharge their efforts.
Smart cloud providers don’t want excess cloud capacity lying around. Obviously,
they want as much utilization of their service as possible to maximize their profit
potential. To encourage usage, savvy providers that are capable offer significantly
discounted rates to coincide with dips in usage. For cloud customers it’s like driving
on the freeway at night when no else is on the road and in your tank is gas that costs
a fraction of what you normally pay.
The underground cloud—as I like to refer to it—is similar to a stock exchange. Cloud
customers bid on available discounted cloud capacity. But, taking advantage of all
the benefits of this emerging service isn’t as simple as placing a trade with a broker.
First of all, you need to understand the intricacies of when to buy and how to spread
data across servers to get the best deals and fastest speeds. There’s also the option
to purchase discounted capacity to bank for future use. Navigating the cloud’s
underground also entails the re-architecture of your applications and systems.
That’s not as much of a problem if you’re starting from scratch. But, if you’re
working with a legacy system, be prepared to spend time and money readying your
systems.
The good news is the customers see a return on their investment. Cloud customers
can experience a 90% decrease in cloud costs when they tread where most
others don’t know to go. For example, one of my clients uses the cloud to process
their sales data at the end of day. It would normally take eight hours and cost $1.1
million per year or $3,000 per day. By taking advantage of down cloud times and
fast processing speeds, we cut the cost to $5-6 per day. It goes without saying that
the $300,000 investment to outfit their system was well worth it.
This excess cloud capacity service is limited in the marketplace right now but other
providers are catching up and as they do, more companies will get wise to this new
game. Right now some consider the underground cloud the best-kept secret in cloud
computing.
Are you in the underground cloud club?