Introduction to Cloud Infrastructure: What We Use and Why
Cloud infrastructure refers to the on-demand computing resources — servers, storage, databases, networking, and more — delivered over the internet by cloud providers. We host the majority of client systems on major cloud platforms: AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure. This article explains what that means for you.
Why Cloud vs. On-Premise
- Elasticity: Cloud resources can be scaled up or down rapidly to match demand — you do not over-provision for peak load or under-provision for growth
- Global reach: Cloud providers have data centres worldwide, enabling low-latency service to users in any geography
- Managed services: Databases, queues, caches, and many other components are available as fully managed services — reducing operational burden
- Reliability: Cloud providers maintain extremely high availability across multiple physical locations
- Pay-as-you-go: You pay for what you use — eliminating large upfront capital expenditure on hardware
The Major Cloud Providers
- AWS (Amazon Web Services): The largest cloud provider — deepest service catalogue, largest ecosystem. Our default for most projects.
- Google Cloud Platform (GCP): Strong for data and ML workloads, Kubernetes (GKE is the best managed K8s service), and Google Workspace integrations
- Microsoft Azure: Strong for enterprise Microsoft-ecosystem clients — Active Directory, Office 365, Power BI
Our Infrastructure Approach
We use Infrastructure as Code (Terraform) to define all infrastructure — making it auditable, version-controlled, and reproducible. We follow AWS Well-Architected Framework principles: security, reliability, performance efficiency, cost optimisation, and operational excellence.