Many companies are turning to the cloud as a way to simplify IT infrastructure, lower costs and increase availability. This is especially important for PKI systems because of their sensitive nature and high risk if security is breached.
Here are 6 reasons why PKI should be moved to the cloud:
1. Reduce costs by using only what you need – pay-as-you-go pricing with no upfront commitments
Reduce the number of certificates you are hosting with only the ones that are needed. Reduce costs by paying for what you use instead of having to purchase a large quantity upfront. Cloud PKI is pay-as-you-go, so there are no upfront commitments and pricing is much more flexible.
This option is great for enterprise PKI because some groups within the organization will need access to issuing certificates, but you can’t always tell who will need these certificates ahead of time. By using cloud PKI, group managers don’t have to go through IT to request a certificate, thus reducing wait times for this process.
2. Utilize the power of the cloud to accelerate performance
Accelerate performance by using the power of the cloud to distribute the load. Scaling up your PKI system takes a lot of time and effort. Cloud PKI allows you to scale up easily as more certificates are needed without having to upgrade the hardware onsite.
3. Increase availability with 99% uptime SLA
Cloud solutions have a higher level of uptime than traditional on-premise solutions. A service level agreement of 99.9% uptime, compared with the typical availability of an on-premise solution at 99%, means you will get more use out of your PKI system.
4. Gain access to new features as they become available without having to upgrade your on-premise solution
You can rely on your cloud PKI provider to make enhancements and add new features without having to upgrade your own system. Cloud PKI providers automatically scale as more certificates are needed, so you don’t have to worry about individual servers becoming overloaded or maxing out like when using an on-premise solution.
5. Simplify infrastructure management with easy deployment, scaling, and upgrades
With an on-premise PKI solution, a lot of time is spent keeping track of individual servers and certificates. It can be very difficult to know how many certificates are active or inactive at any given point with on-premise systems. Cloud providers manage this for you as they handle all the heavy lifting involved in infrastructure management.
6. Reduce costs by only purchasing the certificates you need
Thanks to cloud PKI providers, companies no longer have to buy a large quantity of certificates upfront just in case they are needed later on. Cloud PKI providers charge per certificate so you will only pay for what is necessary at any given point in time. This means less time spent working with IT to issue certificates, freeing up your time for other initiatives.
Conclusion
Many companies are turning to the cloud as a way to simplify IT infrastructure, lower costs and increase availability. This is especially important for PKI systems because of their sensitive nature and high risk if security is breached.