Moving from a Physical Server to the Microsoft Azure Cloud
We have spent most of the past 3 months working to move our operations from our own physical server to the Microsoft Azure Cloud. There are lots of cloud-based storage systems out thee and we decided to try Azure. We were able to do this easily with our file-based systems, but it has proven to be a lot of work to convert our PostGreSql GeoDatabase over to the cloud. We have learned a lot, and we are better for it. Here are the benefits of having a cloud based storage and server system:
Our employees can now access our GeoDatabase, and provide data collection services, from anywhere they have internet service. We have sold our building that we bought 5 years ago and are transitioning to a remote work environment, saving all of us commuting time and the expense of gas for the commute. Employees can now work from home and enjoy the time and gas savings of not having to commute to the office.
Selling our building will dramatically reduce our overhead expenses, helping us to compete for business in an economically competitive environment. The Azure solution will cost us money every month, but without the overhead of maintaining the building we will be far ahead.
The move to the cloud will help us accomplish some research and development projects that were only dreams before. Being able to connect remotely to our data and virtual machines will help us be connected in the field. With the addition of some appropriate technology we can be connected in the field anywhere.
The research and development experiments that we can now accomplish will help open up new markets for us. We have been brainstorming new technologies and how to use them to push our current technology forward and we are excited to see where this can take us.
We will be able to grow in our knowledge of networking technology and keep on the leading edge.
The next couple of weeks will be very difficult for us as we get accustomed to the new processes.
