Question

What are the differences between traditional and on-demand scaling approaches?

Answer 1

An on demand solution is one that can be provisioned (essentially) instantly based on a request. This can be achieved without leveraging a cloud based architecture. It's possible for an on demand solution to use a traditional server farm setup with a fixed resource allocation for each new consumer. This approach can (and often does) result in inefficient utilization of resources (e.g. processing power, storage) because allocation is based a static profile - not the elastic model of the cloud which can adjust resources as application heuristics change.

Answer 2

An on demand solution is one that can be provisioned (essentially) instantly based on a request. This can be achieved without leveraging a cloud based architecture. It's possible for an on demand solution to use a traditional server farm setup with a fixed resource allocation for each new consumer. This approach can (and often does) result in inefficient utilization of resources (e.g. processing power, storage) because allocation is based a static profile - not the elastic model of the cloud which can adjust resources as application heuristics change.