The cloud can be more expensive on a unit basis, so if you are running a reasonable scale and constant load, moving to a fixed-cost basis probably has advantages. Further, the redundancy in the cloud can vary, so you still need to think about your architecture.
Just two areas among many - regulatory compliance, data base performance, etc. - that can be less advantages.
the cloud may be ideal for application developing and testing but for storage purposes, it is extremely expensive. you should also consider vendor lock-in. when you develop an application on the cloud, you do it on a specific platform. but if for some reason, you want to change your host company, you have to ensure that you find another hosting company that supports your application fully. (it is similar to developing an application on windows and expecting it to work on mac)
the cloud may be ideal for application developing and testing but for storage purposes, it is extremely expensive. you should also consider vendor lock-in.
can you give me any numbers, because I just started my research for a cloud
Since I started using a cloud server, I have been very pleased. If it costs a little more, it is well worth it. People are worried about the security, but I feel that my data is safer than ever.
Cloud computing is extensively in practice in almost every business industry and unit irrespective these days. The perceived downsides of public Cloud hosting are security risks and loss of control.
__________________
Victoria stiles Cloud Computing
victoria[dot]victoria884[at]gmail[dot]com
There are two sides of a coin, and yes cloud hosting also has some challenges to overcome. Prime challenges for cloud hosting are disaster recovery, risk management and standardization among the cloud providers.